'...Life is tough.'
It had been two weeks since I received my acceptance notice from the Academy Security Force and officially started working. These days, as I was gradually adapting to this world, I found myself repeating those words almost constantly.
I pondered deeply over how I had become so pessimistic. Roughly three reasons came to mind.
The first and biggest reason was this world's original author, the Blissful Heavenly Demon.
In any possession story, the original author always antagonizes the protagonist, but this guy took it to an extreme.
As the ancient sage said, seeing is believing. No need for long explanations—just look at the tutorial quest clear message, and the answer was obvious.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙[Tutorial Quest Cleared!] [Your bold response struck a chord with the interviewers! Congratulations! You've passed the final interview and become the Academy Guard you've always wanted! As an Academy Guard who didn't exist in the original story, we look forward to your future exploits!] [Rewards for clearing the quest will now be distributed!] [Guard Rate has risen from 0% → 2% due to quest rewards!] [The reward for the final quest has been revealed due to quest completion!] [The last quest prepared in this world! What could its reward be?! Dum dum dum duuuuum-!!] [Ta-da! The final quest reward is the Return Portal One-Time Ticket!] [Want to go back to your original world? Miss your parents, family, and friends you left behind? Yearn for that ordinary daily life? Then clear the quests! Clear them over and over and over! Reach the final quest at the end, and you'll finally achieve that dream!] [Though who knows how long that journey will take! Good luck anyway!]
"...This pisses me off so much, damn it."
I'd read it countless times, yet curses still spilled out automatically. Every single letter seemed to drip with the Blissful Heavenly Demon's malice mocking me.
And not only was the tone infuriating, but the so-called rewards were utterly useless too.
I'd half-expected the final reward to be a return ticket, and a measly 2% Guard Rate didn't let me do anything. The Academy Guard skill raised ability ranks by 1 per 10% Guard Rate.
I'd clearly received quest rewards, yet nothing had actually changed from before clearing it.
'What a stingy bastard.'
If you're borrowing a game's system, shouldn't you follow its rules? I wasn't asking for much—just some starter items or traits useful early on. Would it really hurt?
It was truly miserly and petty.
But his stinginess wasn't limited to quest rewards.
"...Status window."
I muttered softly in case someone might hear, and information on the character 'Ahn Su-ho' appeared in the center of my vision.
⚔ STATUS ⚔Name: Ahn Su-hoGender: MaleHeight/Weight/Age: 179.7cm / 74.5kg / 24Occupation: Academy GuardAffiliation: Green House Security Force General DivisionSuperpower: Black Smoke (D)[Stats]⚡ Strength: E💨 Agility: D🛡️ Endurance: E✨ Magic Power: D🎯 Technique: C💭 Willpower: E🍀 Luck: C[Skills]1. Academy Guard (Unique, E)
I'd discovered the status window two weeks ago.
Intrigued by the mentions of stats and ranks in the Academy Guard skill description, I'd called it out, and sure enough, this window popped up right in front of me.
The original story had no status window, but figuring out the numbers was no issue. The author had posted character stats in the work settings in exactly this format.
Thanks to that, I could compare my body's objective level to other characters I remembered.
And the result? My physical abilities were bug-level—utter trash.
"Haa."
Bottom-tier stats that couldn't even compete with active hunters, let alone academy dropouts.
As proven by the setting where Ahn Su-ho, despite being a superhuman, got drafted into the military, his physical specs fell short of superhuman standards.
'With these specs, can I even keep up with the story starting next month?'
Today's date was February 14th.
In two weeks, on March 2nd, the entrance ceremony was scheduled, and the protagonist's class would enroll in the academy.
The story of Era of Superhumans began with protagonist Ryu Tae-hyun's academy enrollment. In other words, this was the preparation period to gear up for that story.
And because of these pathetic stats, I was wasting that entire preparation period.
I knew all the fortuitous encounters and hidden elements in Era of Superhumans, including how to obtain them. But in a hunter world, most were inside dungeons.
If I tried entering a dungeon with these specs for some lucky break? Local news would probably run a small article: '20-something superhuman youth, disillusioned with his lot, enters ill-suited dungeon alone and commits suicide...'
Fortuitous encounters required a minimum spec threshold, plain and simple.
And I hadn't even met that minimum.
I hadn't slacked on raising my stats.
I jogged to and from work every day. After clocking out, I lifted weights like a gym rat in the staff training grounds.
100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, 10km run? I pushed double or triple that volume every day, grinding through it relentlessly.
Luckily, weak or not, a superhuman is still a superhuman. This body could somehow endure training that would wreck a normal person.
But after two weeks of training, not a single stat had budged.
Not one.
'Alphabet ranks span about 6-7 stages at best. They don't rise easily.'
In reality, you don't transform after two weeks of gym time, so it was realistic in that sense. The problem was it was only realistic here.
To sum up: I'd possessed a body with trash stats that grew slowly, tried to cover for them with fortuitous encounters but couldn't even attempt that, and even the author was a petty jerk skimping on fair quest rewards.
So at a time when I should be preparing for the future, I was doing nothing but killing time.
This was the first reason my life felt so tough lately.
Yeah, just the first reason.
'Damn it all.'
Next, the second reason my life sucked lately: my job.
Academy Guard.
At first, I thought being part of the Academy Security Force meant some special duties, but it was no different from any apartment security guard gig.
Zone out in the assigned guard post, patrol at set times, report any facility issues to superiors, handle miscellaneous paperwork in downtime, then clock out.
With a starting salary of 2.4 million after taxes—not bad—plus full four insurances, various allowances, and bonuses, the Academy Security Force was objectively a good job.
Yet it still sucked. Simple reason.
The academy students were insufferably rude little shits.
'Hey, mister. Mind taking out this trash for me?'
'Ugh, what the hell. Can't you skip the sweeping when people are walking by? You're kicking up all this dust—what's your problem?'
'What're you staring at? Oh, no smoking zone? Come on. What's the big deal with a quick smoke in this open space?'
'Hey, mister. Were you just checking out my legs?'
All the humiliations and contempt from students over the past weeks flashed through my mind.
Fundamentally, Green House students were elitist pricks drunk on their own superiority.
In a world divided between naturally superpowered 'superhumans' and powerless 'non-superhumans,' these kids—gathered from the nation's elite—were steeped in a sense of chosen superiority.
Discriminating against non-superhumans was routine, and even I, a fellow superhuman, got their scorn just for being weak.
The original story had occasional discrimination scenes, but nothing this bad. Maybe the key characters were unusually decent, or perhaps it was one of those settings altered by my possession, like the security force addition.
In any case, to those students, security guards were bottom-feeders.
Superhumans born with powers but too pathetic for proper jobs, scraping by as a last resort. That's how they saw Academy Security Force members.
Over the past two weeks, I'd endured endless slander and belittlement.
Guys who looked barely out of their teens banzai-ing me with informal speech was routine. They'd dump trash right in front of me while I cleaned. Ask them to leave the training grounds after hours? Instant cursing. On duty? They'd mock me openly or snap photos without permission. Just the other day, some kid handed me a drink saying "Have this while you work," but it was expired by half a year.
'Thinking about it pisses me off.'
Back in my old world, apartment resident power trips occasionally made the news. For me, that was daily life.
The silver lining? Only a few students were that aggressively shitty. Most were too busy with their own stuff to bother with guards.
'What about the guys I interviewed with? Are they putting up with this crap too? Did they know and still go all-in on the interview?'
"...Damn it."
Realizing my situation anew brought curses bubbling up. I sank deep into the guard post chair and let out a heavy sigh.
-Clang.
"Su-ho. Patrol's done."
At that moment, a burly male guard pushed open the guard post door and entered.
My workplace senior, assigned with me to this 3rd Basic Training Ground: Kwon Chang-uk.
"Good work, Senior."
As I stood to bow from my seat, he waved me off.
"Cut it out. Just treat me casually, like I said. Anything unusual while I was gone?"
"Nothing. See anything on your end, Senior?"
"One thing. Saw her again in that corner when I came in."
"...Again?"
"Yeah. Wanna go check?"
I followed him out of the guard post and looked where he pointed.
A building corner a short distance from the post. A petite blonde woman was peeking out.
Small stature under 150cm, youthful face.
She looked like a middle schooler at a glance, but she wore the same security uniform as me.
Her name: Chae So-yeon.
Member of the Security Force's Special Countermeasures Division, direct subordinate to its leader, Min Chae-ryeong.
Our eyes met. When I stared, she flinched in surprise and ducked behind the corner.
How much time passed? A tuft of golden hair poked out. Soon, she cautiously peeked again, just like before.
"!!"
Our eyes met instantly, and she hid again. Moments later, she peeked out once more.
That repeated about five times.
Was she incapable of learning? Or blatantly advertising her presence?
Kwon Chang-uk watched awkwardly and asked,
"Should I go ask what she wants?"
"...Nah, leave her. She'll bolt if we approach anyway."
I sighed and headed back inside. Kwon Chang-uk watched me with a bitter expression.
That woman was the final reason my life sucked lately.
From the day after Min Chae-ryeong summoned me for questioning, right up to today—a full two weeks. I'd been under constant 24/7 surveillance by this amateur stalker. At work, resting at home, out and about—no exceptions.
She tailed me everywhere like a chick following its mother. Yet she couldn't even hide properly, fidgeting at the edge of my vision, which was annoyingly distracting. And damn, was she fast on her feet—whenever I tried confronting her, she'd vanish like a shot.
I'd asked Min Chae-ryeong what was up, but she just laughed it off. Can't interfere with a subordinate's private life, she said.
Coming to monitor me during work hours made it blatantly not private, but Min Chae-ryeong played dumb.
'Must be because of the Professor Shin Jin-woo incident.'
She'd brushed it off as coincidence, but a thorough probe would've uncovered a suspicious detail or two.
Still, even if she called me back to press the issue, she knew I wouldn't spill the truth. So she'd stuck this tail on me to dig up something.
Why such an incompetent one was a mystery.
In summary, my daily life lately was squandering a precious preparation period due to the author's schemes, getting dissed by students at work every day, and under 24/7 watch by some weirdo woman.
Life was tough.
Truly a miserable life.