Leveling Up By Surviving Alone - L.U.B.S.A Chapter 33

—

 

He was dreaming.

In his dream, Ji Yeonwoo was swimming through the rift’s sea.

Countless kelp, seaweed, sea urchins, and fish were gliding gracefully through the water in perfect harmony.

For today at least, Ji Yeonwoo did not hunt them, and they, in turn, did not flee from him. Instead, they approached and danced along with him.

“Under the sea,

Under the—

Sea~”

A moment of bliss.

A time of true harmony.

But there was someone—something—watching Ji Yeonwoo and the fish.

Its unfocused, round, black eyes gleamed ominously as it drew near, its massive body looming large.

The fish scattered in a panic.

Ji Yeonwoo cocked his head and turned toward the surging current.

A giant bull shark, as big as a house, was rushing at him with its jaws wide open.

“Gahh!”

Should he try to run? Could he even run? In the water, there was nothing he could do to defend himself against that shark. It seemed impossible. He couldn’t do anything, and his body froze up. He started to panic. The breath he’d been holding suddenly gave out, and he grew dizzy and cold sweat broke out all over him.

“Help me!

Somebody help me!!”

Total panic.

Just then, something poofed into existence between the shark and Ji Yeonwoo.

A giant chicken.

It was Kim Kkoko.

“Cluuuck-cluuuck! Cluck-cluck! Cluuuck!!”

“Uwaaaah! Ugh!”

Ji Yeonwoo bolted upright, panting.

He felt cold all over.

He was soaked as if he’d fallen into the ocean.

“What is this? Water? Or not?”

Then where was the shark from his dream?

“Cluuuuuck!”

Smack! Smack!

Ji Yeonwoo’s head was jolted left and right.

Kim Kkoko slapped him across both cheeks, and only then did Ji Yeonwoo realize that he’d been dreaming.

A terribly nasty nightmare.

“Oh… wow. Was that a nightmare?”

He looked around. Evening had come.

“What was I doing before I fell asleep?”

Ah, right. He’d drunk himself into a stupor and passed out.

“What the— So I’ve basically slept an entire day? I really slept well, huh? Heh heh!”

“Cluuck!”

Kim Kkoko seemed dissatisfied with Ji Yeonwoo’s carefree attitude. She pecked at his thigh with her beak—like a person pinching someone.

“Ow, that hurts!”

“Clu-uck!”

Still, Kim Kkoko went on pecking his thigh. Her bright eyes, framed by long lashes, looked especially dewy today.

“Why so serious? Did something happen? Huh?”

—

– *The Watcher* lets out a sigh at your words.

– He says he was just shouting that you might be dead until a moment ago.

—

“Me? Why? I’m sure I—”

Ji Yeonwoo trailed off mid-sentence.

He hadn’t simply drunk too much and woken up from a nightmare.

He had actually fought a shark in reality.

He lost in the dream, but he won in real life—and then collapsed.

“I almost died, didn’t I? Right?”

—

– *The Watcher* retorts, asking if you’ve only just remembered.

– He sheds tears, saying you have no idea how worried he was.

—

“Oh, come on, big bro, you sure are emotional…”

And the same was true for Kim Kkoko.

Her eyes were so moist it looked like she might burst into tears at any second.

She didn’t actually cry, but Ji Yeonwoo gently wiped away the wetness around her eyes.

“You were really worried, huh? Thank you. Really. And thank you too, Watcher. If it weren’t for you, I really would’ve died.”

If the Watcher hadn’t warned him that the bull shark was coming…

If the Watcher hadn’t explained the Lorenzini organ…

Ji Yeonwoo would have ended up dead.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the Watcher was the one who saved Ji Yeonwoo.

But the Watcher did not seem pleased at Ji Yeonwoo’s gratitude.

Instead, he got angry.

—

– *The Watcher* demands to know how someone could be so reckless, saying you nearly died.

—

“Haha… But I had a plan! Really! I’m not that reckless, I promise.”

—

– He pleads with you to cherish your life, saying if you die, he dies, everyone dies.

—

“Ah…”

It must be because of that half-joking “Rift Pledge” they’d made together.

“He seems to have taken it more seriously than I realized.”

But there was no way Ji Yeonwoo was going to say something mean like, ‘We were just joking then—why take it so seriously?’ On the contrary, he was grateful that the Watcher accepted it so sincerely and cared about him so much.

He was always a kind, warmhearted, know-it-all big brother.

There was no way Ji Yeonwoo could joke about something like that. From now on, he’d have to be as serious with the Watcher as the Watcher was with him.

“All right. If I don’t have a plan, I won’t act. I promise!”

—

– He begs you, please, to promise.

—

“I promise. Promise!”

Ji Yeonwoo held his pinky out into empty air. He made a little pinky-swear and then tapped his thumb on top.

—

– He says now that you’ve promised, you have to keep your word.

—

“Got it, got it. Whew.”

The atmosphere felt much warmer now.

It was as though his bond with the big brother was growing deeper.

As if to prove it wasn’t just his imagination, a system alert chimed in.

—

– Your pet, *The Watcher*, has increased in favorability by 5.

– *The Watcher*’s Favorability: 75

—

“Huh? Says so right here.”

—

– *The Watcher* asks what you’re talking about.

—

“Oh… it’s nothing! Hehe.”

—

– He says you’re being ridiculous.

—

Apparently, the favorability notifications only appeared for Ji Yeonwoo.

Naturally, he grew curious about Kim Kkoko’s favorability, too.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever heard a notification saying hers went up…’

Now that Ji Yeonwoo was awake, Kim Kkoko had gone back to her spot. It seemed that not nesting on her eggs for too long made her feel uneasy.

Even so, she kept her eyes fixed on him.

Ji Yeonwoo approached and patted her on the head.

“You were so worried you couldn’t even sit on your eggs? Thanks.”

“Clu-uck…”

Her sulky expression softened at once.

—

– Your pet, *Kim Kkoko*, has increased in favorability by 1.

– *Kim Kkoko*’s Favorability: 31

—

‘Huh? That’s unexpected.’

He thought he was closer with Kim Kkoko, but her favorability was only 31?

Was the Watcher unusual? Or was Kim Kkoko unusual? Or maybe both?

Of course, he wasn’t disappointed by the numbers themselves.

Favorability aside, the tears they’d almost shed—and their desperate worry that he might die—were genuine. There was not even the slightest hint of pretense.

That was enough.

While he was settling his emotions, the following notifications appeared:

—

– Your body has recovered beyond a certain threshold.

– The passive skill *Enhancement (F)* meets its conditions.

– Your stat, Mana, has recovered and been enhanced.

– Mana efficiency increases by 1.5 times.

– *Enhancement (F)* growth condition “Mana” has been met (1/4).

– Your stat, Stamina, has recovered and been enhanced.

– Stamina efficiency increases by 1.5 times.

– *Enhancement (F)* growth condition “Stamina” has been met (2/4).

– Your stats related to Strength have recovered and are now enhanced.

– Strength efficiency increases by 1.5 times.

– *Enhancement (F)* growth condition “Strength” has been met (3/4).

—

“Whoa…?”

Ji Yeonwoo’s body seemed to expand and contract like it was breathing. His muscles swelled, compressed, and then redefined themselves.

Like he was a hero in some cartoon, growing stronger after a near-death experience.

“How is that even possible?”

It was probably thanks to *Enhancement*, the skill he acquired after registering Kim Kkoko as his pet.

He had nearly exhausted his Mana during the last battle.

Between throwing his spears and using every ounce of strength to drive a spearhead into the bull shark’s back, he had squeezed out everything he had.

His stamina was just as depleted. Without the seaweed soup, he might have bled out and died.

Quite literally, he had brushed against death and survived, and that had apparently fulfilled some conditions for *Enhancement*.

Mana, stamina, health—three conditions had been satisfied, leaving one more.

‘The last one must be agility. But how am I supposed to raise that?’

He wasn’t sure. But he had a feeling that if he continued living on the edge like this, he’d figure it out eventually.

“Either way, I got stronger, right?”

Ji Yeonwoo clenched his fist.

He felt a fullness he hadn’t noticed before.

“Ow…!”

Pain flared in his left arm.

Indeed, a clear set of shark bite marks still marred his left arm.

Within those tooth marks, his muscles were visibly twitching.

But he could freely move his fingers, and he could feel the air brushing between them. It only hurt if he put too much force on it, so he felt that it wasn’t a permanent injury.

All thanks to the hunting suit.

And that hunting suit was now in tatters.

If it were a person, it would be begging to be put out of its misery.

The same went for the top of his right foot, near the toes.

Well, he did stomp a harpoon in with that foot, so that wasn’t surprising. The bruised throbbing on his instep was just a bonus.

Even so—

“It’s not as bad as it looks.”

He was lucky. The gains outweighed the cost. It was a hugely profitable deal.

And his spoils were more than just the awakened *Enhancement* skill.

Now that his lost memories had returned—right up to the moment before he lost consciousness—he recalled hearing the system’s voice just before he blacked out.

—

– You have killed an Elite Monster for the first time.

– You have obtained 10 Rift Coins.

—

*Elite Monster*.

Within a Rift, there is a boss monster that sustains the Rift, and then there are Elite Monsters one rank below the boss. Elite Monsters could be the boss’s minions, or just special creatures living in the Rift.

Either way, the Bull Shark (Adolescent) Ji Yeonwoo killed was an Elite Monster, and by killing it, he had obtained something called Rift Coins.

*Rift Coins?*

“I’ve heard of that before…”

However, having closed himself off from the Rifts—having vowed never to enter them—Ji Yeonwoo had willfully ignored most knowledge regarding them, bolstered by a bit of misplaced pride.

Now, that was the part he regretted the most.

But Ji Yeonwoo had the Watcher on his side.

If his know-it-all big brother was here, maybe he’d know the answer.

“Hey, big bro. I got these ‘Rift Coins’ after defeating that bull shark. What exactly are they?”