He cracked his knuckles as he jumped over the counter instead of just walking through the door.
Because why walk like a normal cashier when you've got a floating UI and a raccoon looting your noodle aisle?
The raccoon, sensing danger—or maybe just offended by the knuckle cracking—let out a chittering squeal and clutched the spicy ramen tighter. Like it was daring him.
Jinwoo squinted. "You gonna fight me over Shin Ramyun? Seriously?"
> [Quest Active: Smack Something] [Remaining Time: 09:59]
"Oh, there's a timer? Great. Wouldn't want my eternal shame to be delayed."
He stepped forward cautiously, arms loose at his sides, trying to remember every fight tutorial he'd ever button-mashed through in video games. The raccoon hissed and scampered onto the shelf, knocking over cup noodles like a furry little anarchist.
"Alright," Jinwoo muttered. "Time to awaken my inner Jackie Chan."
He lunged.
The raccoon leapt sideways—faster than expected. Jinwoo crashed into the shelf and immediately got buried under a rain of spicy broth-scented cardboard.
> [HP -3]
"Bro WHAT?! I took damage from noodles?!"
The raccoon paused mid-escape, like even it was judging him-or just laughing at him.
Jinwoo kicked the noodle cup off his shoulder and charged again, arms flailing like an amateur. "Come here, you ramen thief!"
He slipped on a crushed packet and accidentally body slammed the raccoon. They both tumbled to the floor.
Silence.
> [Hit registered!] [+1 Martial Arts Proficiency!] [+5 EXP Gained!]
[Bonus!] +100 exp Gained!]
> [Level Up!] [Player Level: 2] [+2 Stat Points earned.]
He blinked. "Wait. That counted?"
The raccoon wiggled free and bolted through the automatic door like a thief into the night, spicy ramen still clutched in its little criminal paws.
"Hey! That's store property!"
The door slid closed with a ding, like it was mocking him.
He stood there, panting, looking like he'd survived a noodle war.
> [Tutorial Complete!] [New Quest Unlocked: Stat Allocation Madness]
[Description: You have stat points. Don't hoard them like a weirdo.]
"I won't."
Jinwoo stared at the screen, half in disbelief and half in annoyance. Stat points. The universe had just given him the power to become a walking disaster, and now it wanted him to play stat point roulette.
He rubbed his temples, trying to make sense of what had just happened. The raccoon, now a distant memory in the form of an irritatingly successful noodle thief, had somehow triggered an actual level-up. He'd heard about stuff like this happening to people who actually mattered—hunters, awakeners, and all those glory-seeking idiots on TV. But him? A convenience store cashier stuck in a cycle of expired food and tired customers?
Yeah, right.
The system beeped again, this time annoyingly persistent.
> [Stat Allocation: Choose wisely.]
Jinwoo's eyes narrowed. Choose wisely? Like he knew what the hell to do with these "stat points" when his greatest expertise was deciding which ramen was closest to expiring.
He glanced at his current stats, still displayed in front of him, blinking like some low-budget RPG character screen.
> [Player Status Window]
Name: Park Jinwoo
Age: 19
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 63 kg
Title: Loser
Level: 2
EXP: 5/200
Class: [Pending]
Job: Cashier
HP: 97/100
MP: 30/30
Strength: 6
Agility: 9
Stamina: 9
Intelligence: 18
Luck: 1
Charisma: 2
"Alright," he muttered, rubbing his chin. "Strength, agility, stamina… this feels like the setup to a bad joke. Do I make myself a walking wrecking ball or a slightly faster vending machine?"
He scrolled down, looking for any hint of guidance. Nothing.
"Well, guess I'll just poke at things."
He looked at strength.
"No. I will be the fast-type.
Agility. That made sense. Maybe he'd stop tripping over his own feet.
> [Agility: 12]
"Done! Though i don't feel anything."
[New quest: Train you body to be worthy of the stats]
"No."
[Penalty: Death]
Jinwoo stared at the screen. Death?
His brain froze for a second, processing the words that were now flashing in front of him. The system had to be joking, right? Maybe it was one of those "haha, funny, learn the hard way" tutorials. Yeah, it had to be.
But then he noticed something. The timer. It was ticking. Slowly. But relentlessly.
> [Quest Active: Train your body to be worthy of the stats]
[Penalty: Death]
[Remaining Time: 00:59:55]
"Wait, what?" Jinwoo muttered to himself, swallowing hard. "How is that even a penalty? Like, seriously, death?"
He looked around the convenience store, half expecting to see someone, anyone, to tell him this was a prank. But no one was there. Just shelves, fluorescent lights, and the occasional sound of a distant car horn. It felt like a bad dream, but… it wasn't.
He rubbed his eyes again, trying to clear his thoughts. No. No way. I can't just let this thing boss me around.
The quest window blinked, its timer now down to 59 minutes. Every second felt like a countdown to some kind of disaster. His palms started to sweat. He could already feel the pressure mounting.
"Okay, okay," Jinwoo said, half to himself, half to the system. "Fine. Train my body. How hard could that be, huh?"
He flexed a little, trying to summon some semblance of confidence, but all he had was a tired body and the faintest feeling of a headache creeping up. He'd spent most of his time running around a store, dodging weird customers, and avoiding eye contact with his manager. Now, apparently, he was expected to become some kind of superhuman?
The system didn't wait for him to figure it out.
> [New Task: Run 3 kilometers]
[Reward: 1 point to Strength or Stamina]
[Penalty: Death]
The screen kept flashing that annoying timer, and Jinwoo groaned. "Run 3 kilometers? Dude, I'm gonna die before I even finish one lap around the block."
But he wasn't an idiot. The system wasn't exactly offering a friendly suggestion. And with "death" hanging over his head like some overzealous threat, he didn't have the luxury of ignoring it.
With a reluctant sigh, he ran a hand through his hair. "Fine. I'll go out and run. I don't care."
The store wasn't going anywhere, and neither were his problems. But running three kilometers? That was a whole different level of ridiculous.
He turned and headed out the back door, jogging on autopilot, still trying to convince himself that this wasn't some poorly-written fantasy. But as he reached the sidewalk and glanced at the glowing system message flashing over his vision, that little part of him—the part that had been stuck in a mundane life—started to feel the tiniest bit of excitement.
"Maybe I can actually do this."
As Jinwoo took his first step, the world around him felt… different. Almost alive in a way he'd never noticed before. The air seemed fresher. His legs felt lighter, despite the fact he hadn't run more than 100 meters in months.
"I guess i did Awaken."
After running for a while, he stopped and looked at the screen.
[Run for 2.6/3 kilometers.]
[Penalty: Death]
[Time: 00:17:46]
"Hupf! Hupf! There's still more left?"
He began running again. It was 11:50 now. He was running back and forth in front of the convenience store.
Finally, He completed his run. Panting like a thirsty dog, he put his hand on his knees and bent down for better breathing.
> [Task Complete! +1 Stat Point Earned!]
[Choose reward: +1 Strength or +1 Stamina]
Jinwoo barely looked up, sweat dripping from his forehead like he was auditioning for a sports drink commercial gone wrong. His lungs were on fire. His legs were jelly. His dignity? Still MIA since the raccoon incident.
"Stamina… obviously stamina," he wheezed. "What good is strength if I pass out after ten steps?"
> [+1 Stamina! Current Stamina: 10]
He collapsed on the convenience store steps like a tragic anime protagonist, arms spread wide, eyes staring into the void.
> [New Quest: Basic Combat Trial — Slap a Threat]
[Reward: 1 Skill Unlock Token]
[Penalty: Death]
[Time Limit: 30 Minutes]
He groaned louder this time. "Why is everything a life-or-death thing with you?! I just wanted to stock shelves and not deal with drunk uncles asking for soju at 3 a.m."
He pulled himself up with a grunt, body aching in ways he didn't know were possible. He was starting to realize the system had no chill. At all.
> [Hint: Threat is approaching.]
Jinwoo blinked. "Wait, what threat?"
Then, like a horror movie cue, the automatic doors opened with a cheerful ding, and in walked a guy twice Jinwoo's size, shirtless, tattooed, and muttering to himself as he scanned the shelves with crazy eyes.
"Oh no," Jinwoo whispered. "Why couldn't it be another raccoon?"
The guy grabbed a bottle of soda, opened it, chugged half, and then made direct eye contact with Jinwoo.
"You gonna stop me, twig?"
The system pinged.
> [Target Locked: Threat Identified — Lv. 3 "Unstable Civilian"]
[Objective: Land a successful hit before the time runs out.]
Jinwoo looked at the man. Then at the timer. Then at his own trembling noodle arms.
"…Can I get the raccoon back instead?"
To be continued...