Chapter 2: I’m sendo (1)

No.

How am I unpowered?

If I’ve entered a game world, shouldn’t I at least get some useful abilities?

‘This is life on hard mode, seriously.’

Since I had no abilities whatsoever, I couldn’t even grasp how I was supposed to live from now on.

‘For being unpowered, I was surprisingly strong though…’

The superpower measuring device doesn’t malfunction or mismeasure unless it’s broken.

Even if the numerical value could be mismeasured, determining the presence or absence of a superpower is about detecting the presence or absence of energy, so the doctor had repeatedly hammered into my chest that the test results were definite and I was clearly unpowered.

Considering that I had enough strength to smash the door earlier, despite being certified as unpowered by the superpower measuring device, perhaps…

‘Did a stat cheat get applied?’

I couldn’t think of anything else.

If it happened once or twice, maybe, but strange things kept happening every time I used my strength, so I couldn’t help but be suspicious.

“It seems I need to check how strong I am so I don’t cause any accidents…”

The problem was that there was no way to check my strength.

It was hard to find a secluded place, and I couldn’t openly display my power in front of others either…

More importantly…

‘I need to go to work.’

It was time for my part-time job.

It was a relief that I often worked at the logistics center.

Normally, I wouldn’t have wanted to go, but now it was a good opportunity to get a rough idea of my strength and learn how to control it.

“Oh, Doyoon, you’re here?”

“Yes, Boss.”

“Let’s finish up quickly and go for some rice soup together.”

His gaze then shifted to my body for a moment.

“Huh? You seem to have gotten bigger. Was your face always like that?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ah, no, it must be my imagination.”

After watching the older man go inside, saying he’d see me after work, I also moved to my workstation.

Innumerable boxes were visible.

Even originally, I could handle this amount of work, but I would usually collapse exhausted when I got home, so what about now?

Feeling the sense of omnipotence circulating throughout my body, I approached the heaviest-looking item and lifted it.

Crunch!

‘Uh oh…’

When I gripped the item to lift it, my fingers dug into the box.

I pulled them out immediately, but…

‘This will be okay, right?’

There were slight indentations from my fingers on both top sides, and I could only hope no one would notice…

More than that, the weight I felt was…

‘Oh.’

Light.

Objectively, it was definitely a heavy item.

However, when I lifted it, it felt as light as a feather.

It was even to the point where I doubted if I was even exerting any strength at all.

‘Does this mean I’m not even putting in much effort?’

So this isn’t just some random stat cheat.

‘This is an opportunity…’

It seemed I could learn how to control my strength here.

By undertaking tasks that involved moving items of different weights, I would naturally become proficient in strength control.

Thinking that, I moved the boxes with all my might.

Gradually, I started to get used to controlling my strength.

At first, I would damage boxes or accidentally throw them upwards when picking them up, but now I was moving them smoothly.

‘Wow… what are you doing?’

Even the manager, who had been dumbfounded wondering how I could be so full of strength to do such things, was now staring blankly at me working.

Without noticing the astonishment of those around me, I finished my entire quota in an instant.

‘Wow… insane…’

The manager watching was so astonished that the previously disdainful manager even suggested I become a full-time employee.

‘Oh no…’

I seem to have gotten too carried away.

“Hey, what are you…? You’ve changed overnight…”

“I know, right…”

“Hey, did you decide to use your superpower just now? Did you always have a super-strength ability? You never showed any superpowers, so I didn’t know what your ability was.”

No way.

I just went to check if I had superpowers this morning.

“Really? Hey, hey, then you never know… maybe you just awakened a new superpower? It’s free anyway, so go get it checked out. Ha… I’m struggling to get by with one useless superpower… So jealous, seriously…”

I just said I went to get it checked out today.

“Wow… Ha Doyoon, this kid… when he first came, he was such a scrawny kid, and now he’s like this… Honestly, you never showed anything, so I thought you were unpowered, but you weren’t? Don’t forget me when you make it big later, okay?”

I think I’ll forget.

I shouldn’t say that, right?

****

“I think I can control my strength sufficiently now.”

Going to the logistics center for my part-time job seemed to have been a bigger deal than I expected.

At first, I was scared to touch things at home, but now I could control my strength well enough.

Though that wouldn’t bring back the already broken door handle.

“Time to head to my cafe part-time job soon…”

And it’s not just part-time jobs.

Today is the weekend, so I only have to go for the closing shift, but starting tomorrow, I have to go to university again.

Thinking about that, my head started to ache.

‘At least the most urgent problem has been solved, so now I just need to live a normal life…’

Unlike before, I now had a body that would never get tired from daily life, so there was even less holding me back.

Only…

‘They say heroes earn so much money… why only me…’

It was too sad that I couldn’t utilize my full strength through this stat cheat, especially now that I had it.

I hadn’t investigated everything yet, but from what I’d found so far, it was no exaggeration to say that this world was essentially an era of superpowers.

Naturally, most of the people active as heroes were only those with very powerful superpowers.

To be a hero, one must possess a superpower, so the Hero Association wouldn’t accept me, an unpowered individual, just because I wanted to be a hero.

Nor was it easy for me to confidently step forward and say that I was unpowered but possessed such strength.

This was essentially a gamble with my personal safety.

I knew nothing about this world.

I didn’t know what organizations existed or what the government here was like.

Since it was a hero game and the story would involve world-threatening levels of danger, it was hard to believe that the government or the hero side would necessarily be normal and clean.

Of course, it could just be my excessive imagination.

However, I simply decided it was better to observe the situation a bit more rather than endure such a gamble just for the desire to be a hero.

Ultimately, for now, there was no legal way to use this power.

“Should I just go to my part-time job first…”

I’ll have to work until night again.

.

.

.

Ding-dong!

“Welcome… Oh, it’s Doyoon?”

“Yes, hello. Yoona sunbae.”

She’s my senior at this part-time job.

“Uh… um… you’re Doyoon, right?”

Huh?

Why is she not sure?

“Is there a problem?”

“No, it’s just… you seem to have changed a lot…”

“Ah, it’s just your imagination. Just your imagination.”

It probably wasn’t just her imagination, though.

If I saw myself, I’d think I’d changed a lot, so how much more would others?

It’s a good thing, I suppose, that everyone seems to be experiencing collective cognitive dissonance since I entered the game world, seeing me as Ha Doyoon.

“Really? Hmph… Haaah…”

Jung Yoona replied with a bewildered expression, then, realizing her shift was over, stretched and got up from her seat.

“Alright, I’m going to head out. Bye-bye.”

“Yes, goodbye.”

I watched Jung Yoona walk out with cheerful steps, then sighed.

‘Why is it that I entered a game world, but nothing has changed?’

Usually, when you enter a game world, you succeed wildly and even get heroines involved… shouldn’t that be the case?

If I had at least gained a superpower, I could have become a hero, but since I’m unpowered, that’s not possible either.

‘But for being unpowered, my part-time jobs are still here.’

I heard that the social perception of unpowered individuals wasn’t very good.

If I had entered a timeline where I was unpowered, wouldn’t it be normal for most of my original part-time jobs to be cut?

Is it because the boss is kind?

For a cafe job, the presence or absence of superpowers is relatively unimportant, so it’s not that strange for it to remain, but the logistics center is truly surprising.

‘I wonder what superpower that person has.’

This is a world where most people have superpowers.

Naturally, the woman I saw earlier must also have a superpower.

Most have only weak superpowers, but it’s common to have one, and that’s the social norm, so they probably have no problem living their lives.

But I’m already worrying about how I, as an unpowered person, should live from now on.

‘Let’s just work…’

I don’t want to think about headache-inducing thoughts.

Still, working seems to make my worries about the future disappear a bit, so it’s not entirely bad.

It’s just escaping reality, though.

Something feels strange.

‘I feel like I’m getting more stares than before…’

Every time customers came in, the stares subtly directed at me increased a lot compared to before.

My imagination… it couldn’t be, right?

‘Is it really because my appearance improved so much?’

Even I thought my face was quite handsome.

If before I had the impression of a ‘nice-looking guy’, now I would say I was a ‘handsome man with excellent features’.

It’s surprising how much difference a slight change in face shape and overall impression can make.

Indeed, if you think about what happens when a handsome person gains weight, a slight change in face shape would be a huge difference.

“I want to go home early.”

It’s a small cafe part-time job, and after the shift change, I’m all alone, so it’s quiet.

I didn’t get my barista license for this.

As I stood at the counter, lost in thought.

– Kyyyaaaak!

– Mo-monster!

Startled by the sudden screams, I snapped my head around.

“There’s no one in the cafe but me right now?”

Then it must have come from outside…

What was that sudden noise? Did a villain appear or something?

Such thoughts lingered only for a moment…

– Grrrk? Grrrrk…

A bipedal monster with a dog’s head walked into the cafe.

“What is this…”

A monster?

‘I definitely saw this in a video playing ‘Noble Heroes Beginning’…’

Only villains appeared in the original work, not these kinds of monsters.

No way, no way…

‘This really is the game world…’

To be honest, I had suspected it a little.

Perhaps where I entered wasn’t the game world, but the original world.

But it wasn’t.

– Grrrk? Grrrk!

This is definitely the game.

– Grarararargh!!

“Ah…”

I muttered, seeing the monster drooling from its tongue and rushing at me the moment it saw me standing at the counter.

Why is my life like this, seriously?

Damn it, seriously.