I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-16

Ch-16. **Hermes’ Shoes**

—

“Jinwoo oppa…”

Kim Seoyeon tried to stop him from behind, wearing an expression of fluster—
but even *that* was fake.

I knew full well that the “surprise” on her face wasn’t because a man had stepped forward.
It was because she was flustered by the lie she herself had spat out.

Honestly, it was absurd.

We didn’t even break up on good terms, yet she goes around talking behind my back and calling her ex a “stalker”?

*She really knows how to kill off the last remaining goodwill.*

Even the few good memories we had feel like they’re rotting away. Looking back, I feel like I lived like a real idiot.

And the guy who believed all that? He wasn’t normal either.

Birds of a feather. A match made in heaven.

“Excuse me. I’ve been listening quietly, but what on earth are you talking about?”

Kim Hana shot to her feet, eyes blazing.

Jung Jinwoo looked at her and let out a derisive laugh.

“And who are you? Did he hire you to act as his girlfriend for cash?”
“W-… what did you say?”
“How much did he pay you? Judging by your looks, maybe fifty? Must’ve been hard on a 2.3 mil monthly salary, huh? I’ll give you double, so learn your place.”

He even mentioned the exact number—230.

Looks like Kim Seoyeon had laid everything bare about me.
Not the good things—mostly the bad.

Five years of memories were being dumped straight into the gutter.

“… I’m the one who booked this place, and I’m treating him because I got help. Just because you have a mouth doesn’t mean—”
“Four times? Is 200 enough?”

Jung Jinwoo pulled out his wallet and held out a thick bundle of fifty-thousand-won bills.

Kim Hana stared at him as if she were looking at something rotten.

“What kind of piece of trash *are* you?”
“Piece of trash?”
“Yeah, a piece of trash. You think money is everything? You’re barely human. Where did you spend all your years to grow up so pathetically?”

“… Both of you must be out of your minds.”

Jung Jinwoo stiffened and raised his hand.

Most people would stop at the gesture—but he didn’t. He swung his arm straight at her.

At the moment Kim Hana instinctively squeezed her eyes shut—

Tak!

I grabbed his wrist, and his eyebrow twitched upward.

“Ha. Look at him, acting like a man for once.”
“Let’s take this outside.”
“There’s nothing to take outside. You’re going to kneel and apologize fir— huh?!”

Kkwoaaak!

As he tried to continue, a shock snapped him awake.

A pain sharp enough to snap bone shot up his wrist.

*What— what the hell? Why is this bastard so strong?*

This wasn’t a normal person’s grip strength.

People with this kind of power could probably be counted on one hand.

But as far as Jung Jinwoo knew, Park Hyunmyung was someone who had never touched exercise a day in his life.

If he wasn’t working, at home, or on a date, he was rotting in his room gaming. There was no way someone like that had trained grip strength professionally.

Then could it be…?

*A player?*

Did he use a Fragment of the Broken Golden Scale to synchronize?

No, impossible. Synchronizing made you into a direct incarnation of your Pangaenia character. Yet the Hyunmyung before him was just… Hyunmyung.

Which meant he was *born* this strong—which made even less sense.

“Now, do you feel like talking outside?”
“You bastard…!”

Jung Jinwoo shook free his throbbing wrist, his face twisting.

Talk outside?

*You picked the wrong person to provoke.*

Spare me.

He could endure anything, but being shown up by some worthless loser? Never.

He and Park Hyunmyung were not the same. Not even close. Showing weakness to trash like this would be the greatest humiliation imaginable.

Fwoooosh!

At that moment, a golden ripple surged across Jung Jinwoo’s entire body.

Jung Jinwoo was a Player.

Using a Fragment of the Broken Golden Scale allowed him to manifest it in reality.

A Pangaenian warrior could take on a thousand ordinary men and still stand.
No matter how strong a normal human’s grip was, that’s all they were—normal.

Beating someone synchronized was impossible.

Regaining confidence, Jung Jinwoo smiled.

*I’ll make you beg for forgiveness.*

The thought of forcing him to kneel and apologize made the smile stretch across his face.

The world had changed anyway.

From now on, Players would lead the era.

People were already worshipping Dimension Warriors.

Who would criticize him for neutralizing one ordinary man?

“Wh-what is that?”
“He’s a Dimension Warrior!”
“Transformation? Did he really transform?!”

People began murmuring loudly when they saw his changed appearance.

Blue hair. A muscular, chiseled body. A real warrior holding a spear.

Known Dimension Warriors in Korea numbered fewer than a hundred.
Jung Jinwoo wasn’t one of them, but everyone was still mesmerized by the appearance of such a rare existence.

A hero had appeared!

Jung Jinwoo’s shoulders soared.

“Kneel, you bastard.”

He was relaxed. The duration of the Golden Scale was precious, but this was a rare chance—to erase Park Hyunmyung completely from Seoyeon’s eyes.

But the smile didn’t last long.

Krrrung!

*… An earthquake?*

The ground began to shake, and cracks spread through the building.

And that wasn’t the only anomaly.

“M-monster!”
“Ahhh!!”

Giant pillbugs.

One-meter-long pillbugs with sharp teeth burst up from underground.

Monsters that shouldn’t exist on Earth.

But their appearance was familiar.

*Chid W… Chid Worm! Erosion?*

Erosion had begun again.

Jung Jinwoo clenched his fist.

*They’re only level 2.*

No matter how many level 2 pillbugs there were, they were still just pillbugs.

Slow and barely aggressive.

In fact, they had only crawled up to the surface—none were actually attacking people yet.

But monsters, by their very existence, instilled fear.

People were screaming and fleeing in terror.

“You… consider yourself lucky.”

With erosion starting, Park Hyunmyung was no longer a concern.

Jung Jinwoo seized the opportunity.

This was the perfect moment to become a hero.

“Everyone! Stay calm! I, Jung Jinwoo, will protect you!”

So many had risen to stardom during the Giant Mantis incident.

There was no rule saying *he* couldn’t become a hero too.

Shaaak!

He drove his spear straight into a Chid Worm.

Its shell split open, and it exploded in a spray of viscous fluid. Jung Jinwoo didn’t stop.

Four Chid Worms had entered the restaurant.
He killed all four in a flash, then spun his spear, adopting a poised stance as he surveyed the room with an arrogant calm.

Click! Click!

People everywhere raised their phones to film him.

*There we go.*

Jung Jinwoo cheered inwardly.

Once these videos hit the internet, by tomorrow he’d be a star.

Just imagining it made his heart swell.

Krrung!

But the erosion didn’t stop.

Even more Chid Worms began crawling in from outside.

A flood of them.

“You damn bugs…”

There were many, but that was even better.

It was a chance to show the world just how heroic he was.

How many had he killed as they surged through the entrance?

—… Who killed my children?

Something entered.

Not a Chid Worm.

A Chid Mamba.

A monster with a Chid Worm’s hide but the swollen body of a human being.

It appeared amidst a cloud of poisonous mist—and Jung Jinwoo’s expression instantly froze.

*Why is a main raid boss here?*

The Giant Mantis was a field raid boss.

But the Chid Mamba was on a completely different level.

Like Hydragon, it required a minimum party of ten players. In fact, it ranked even higher than Hydragon.

“Ah…”

Jung Jinwoo’s entire body stiffened.

Chid Worm mucus, turned into neurotoxin by the Mamba’s skill, spread across his body—paralyzing him.

The Chid Mamba glanced at its dead Chid Worms.

—My poor children. That human killed you, who did no wrong.

“Aaah…”

Dribble.

As the Chid Mamba drew near, urine trickled down Jung Jinwoo’s legs.

He was going to die. If he didn’t move, he would die.

But his body wouldn’t obey. The Mamba’s hand stroked his cheek.
Trapped in the poisonous fog, Jung Jinwoo trembled and rolled his eyes back.

And then—

“I’ll kill you all! You goddamn monsters!”

Hallucinations struck.

Jung Jinwoo began swinging his spear—at people.

“R-run!”
“Wh-what are you doing?!”

Panic erupted. To Jung Jinwoo’s eyes, every person looked like a Chid Worm.

Then his gaze locked onto Kim Hana.

Terror swallowed her eyes.

*Ah…*

Jung Jinwoo wasn’t in his right mind.

She had seen many unhinged people, but he was among the worst.

A gaze consumed by bloodlust.

Her feet felt glued to the floor.

“Ghyeuk… ghehehehe!”

Madness. Pure insanity.

DADADADAK!

Jung Jinwoo charged at her like a lunatic, spear raised.

“Die!”

Kim Hana shut her eyes tight.

And then—

Jjeo-eok!

Thunk!

A sharp slicing sound—thick flesh being cut—and the situation was over.

Kim Hana opened her tightly shut eyes.

She saw Jung Jinwoo staring down at his arms in shock.

“Huh? What? Where are my arms? Why are they—why are they on the floor…?”

His arms were gone.

Cleanly severed from the elbow as if sliced by paper.

It took him a long moment to realize reality.

“M-my… my arms. Aaaagh! My arms!!”

He writhed on the floor, screaming in agony.

Someone had cut off his arms.

But who?

Lifting his head with difficulty, Jung Jinwoo saw him.

The man who had severed his arms.

Holding a massive greatsword.
Eyes like the abyss—utterly devoid of emotion.

Looking down at him the way one would look at an insect.

Just meeting those eyes made him shiver.

He was a destroyer.

Someone who had undoubtedly committed more slaughter than Jinwoo could fathom.

“S-spare… spare me…”

Begging for his life, Jinwoo watched as the man simply turned away and walked past.

As if Jinwoo didn’t matter.

As if he had only cut him down because he was in the way…

It was disregard of the highest order.

But Jung Jinwoo couldn’t do anything.

Saaa…

The Golden Scale’s effect ended.

His transformation dissolved, and he returned to being just an ordinary human.

But his severed arms did not come back.

“Ah.”

Realization dawned—and despair filled his eyes.

This had to be a dream.

It *had* to be.

He had stepped up confidently, only to piss himself, fall into hallucinations, attack civilians, and have his arms cut off.

How could anything be worse?

He had thought he would become a hero tomorrow.

But hope had instantly turned to ruin.

Click!

Even now, people were taking photos, filming, livestreaming everything.

All of his disgrace was captured in full.

…Yes. This must be a dream. Something like this couldn’t be reality.

If he just woke up, everything would return to normal.

But no matter how many times he closed and opened his eyes, reality did not change.

*

*

*Player.*

Jung Jinwoo had used a Fragment of the Broken Golden Scale.

Proof that he was a Player.

【Lv. 4】

But his level was pathetic.

If he was a Player, that meant he had lived in Pangaenia for at least a full year.

Yet he was only level 4?

Did he invest an absurd amount of points into talent like I had, causing the required experience to skyrocket exponentially?

But after watching the way he hunted the Chid Worms, I was convinced that wasn’t the case.

*The game and real combat are different. He got scared and neglected hunting.*

The reason he stalled at level 4 was simple—fear of death.

Not everyone starts out holding the Iron-Blooded Monarch’s Heart like I did. In fact, Jinwoo’s level was a far more realistic outcome.

But something was strange.

By assimilating with Randolph, I had grown considerably stronger in reality as well.
Yet despite being a Player, Jung Jinwoo was barely any different from an ordinary human.

Was I the strange one?
Or was Jung Jinwoo just exceptionally weak?

There were many puzzling things, but one thing was certain—
Jung Jinwoo was the biggest idiot in the world.

Hordes of Chid Worms suddenly appeared, and he was thrilled, killing them like it was a blessing.

It was clear he hadn’t properly progressed the main quests either.

*His class itself is from a fairly high-ranking spearmanship category. He must’ve ranked high in the class acquisition quest and earned logout privileges that way.*

A waste of a class.

Considering that he had logged out and used a Fragment of the Broken Golden Scale, he must have placed quite high in the main quest for class acquisition.

*… Wherever large numbers of Chid Worms dwell, there is always a Chid Mamba.*

In any case, Chid Worms are non-aggressive.

But you must never kill them carelessly.

If you do, the Chid Mamba will *always* come for revenge.

While everyone’s attention was fixed on Jinwoo and the Chid Mamba, I quietly slipped away and used a Fragment of the Broken Golden Scale in a deserted corner.

Afterward, when Jinwoo attacked Kim Hana, I simply severed both of his arms with Michela’s Blade.

—Ohh~ What a delicious-looking human we have here.

【Lv. 6】

A main raid boss—and even stronger than Hydragon.

The Chid Mamba licked its lips as it looked at me, savoring the sight.

My level was only 3 now. Even if I summoned Hydragon, this wouldn’t be an easy fight.

But I wasn’t worried.

《You have equipped “Michela’s Armor.”》
《You have equipped “Michela’s Helmet.”》
《Set Effect “Celestial Dragonkin” has been activated!》
《You have equipped “Hermes’ Shoes.”》
《Your stats are lower than the required threshold.》
《“Fairy Queen’s Tear” drastically lowers the stat requirements of “Hermes’ Shoes.”》
《You may now use “Swiftness.”》

Watching the messages rise before me, I smiled in satisfaction.

*Good thing I cleared out the Secret Auction House beforehand.*

 

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