Adjusting the Gangster Male Lead’s Intensity [Novel] Chapter 21

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 21

Chapter Title: Tutorial Complete

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It felt like she'd had a long dream.

In the darkness where she couldn't tell where it began or ended, Yi-hae Baek blinked vacantly.

'Where is this?'

She seriously wondered if she'd died and ended up in the afterlife, but it didn't seem like that.

She tilted her head, then swung her arms around wildly. There was nothing to touch, but her movements weren't uncomfortable.

Realizing that, she rolled forward in a somersault and righted herself.

"Oh, nice. I can stand even without a floor."

Though she couldn't even tell if what she was standing on was the ceiling or the floor right now.

Letting out a gasp of admiration, Yi-hae Baek blinked her large eyes. The surroundings weren't complete darkness.

It was a sparkling, mystical darkness, like gazing into the universe. Dazed by its beauty that threatened to pull her in, she suddenly jolted to her senses.

'Not the time for this. Get it together.'

She couldn't afford to lose focus when she didn't even know where she was.

"Status Window."

Yi-hae Baek muttered softly, recalling how it always explained the situation whenever she got caught up in something bizarre.

'Tutorial?'

A tutorial was the guide that explained game controls and elements at the start of a game.

'The things I've been through are the tutorial? My relationships and the events I've endured?'

Yi-hae Baek's face twisted up without her being able to control it.

Then the Status Window began to unfurl at length, moving flashily as if urging her to focus.

"Death..."

Unable to hold back her anger any longer, Yi-hae Baek spat out a yell.

"You drag me here on your whim, then kill me on your whim?! If you're gonna kill me, just do it! This isn't playing around with a person!"

She'd never even wished to possess the game she'd played.

It was an obsessive kind of love, and sure, she'd envied the female lead being loved by everyone.

"Damn it. I hate this. I hate all of it."

The kindness she'd shown turning into mere favorability points for some game system.

'It wasn't to raise favorability that I was nice to them...'

Tears threatening to well up, Yi-hae Baek took a deep breath and held them back as best she could.

She absolutely didn't want to show a pathetic sight in front of the Status Window over something like this.

'I don't know the threshold, but at least thanks to Yeol Seo, I've dodged the crisis.'

She didn't know about Yeol Seo, but just as she'd saved him, he'd saved her in return.

Letting out a hollow chuckle, Yi-hae Baek frowned at I-ryeong Cha in third place, then spotted fourth and fifth.

"Wait, that Do-gyeom Seo guy stuck to me like glue, and he only gets +10? Lower than I-ryeong Cha? And why the hell did that bastard Yeong Baek raise his favorability? It creeps me out."

Some people barely escaped death thanks to her!

Panting with irritation, Yi-hae Baek soon stared silently through the Status Window. This unknown world might be something the Status Window created.

Maybe it wanted to convey something it couldn't in reality.

"The 'Status Window interference rejection' as a reward means you've been messing with my memories until now, right?"

She'd felt something off for a while. Like someone had snipped her memory flow with scissors.

She couldn't even recall the Sub Male Lead's handsome face she'd once admired, or what came after.

'Did you think I'd get in the way if I remembered the original story?'

She hadn't planned to interfere anyway, but irritation bubbled up—until she remembered I-heum Seo's survival.

Truth be told, she had a glorious track record of derailing the original plot from the start.

She wasn't expecting the Status Window to answer, so as Yi-hae Baek pondered alone...

'A message?'

It was sudden. She could accept the favorability and Status Window from a dating sim, but a message?

'...From who?'

As hesitant Yi-hae Baek wavered, the YES button slowly auto-selected itself before her eyes.

This was the Status Window's first direct response to Yi-hae Baek's question.

Yi-hae Baek froze in place, and once again, the message auto-opened.

As if telling her she had no right to refuse.

Messages poured in one after another, leaving Yi-hae Baek gaping before she could even respond. Another arrived right away.

My path?

Yi-hae Baek felt like her brain was overloading from the flood of information that followed. She let out an involuntary groan, and in that moment, she recalled a truth she'd forgotten.

The Status Window had told her I-ryeong Cha was the White Blossom Gang's action captain. In other words, even though she'd been warned about Yeong Baek ahead of time, that memory had been forcibly erased, leading her into danger.

As if it'd manipulated her to prevent her from easily escaping threats.

'And that Sub Male Lead I jokingly mentioned turned out to be Yeong Baek.'

Fuzzy memories from her past life game started resurfacing. The one who'd smirked while admitting he'd planted the spy who killed I-heum Seo on Do-gyeom Seo.

She'd swooned over how handsome he was in the game, but to think it was Yeong Baek.

'I knew his face and name, and still got screwed. Game possession and Status Window were unbelievable enough, but messing with my memories too?'

A chilling sensation washed over her.

Yi-hae Baek clamped her mouth shut and glared straight ahead. She could see the Status Window, but not whoever was behind it.

God, demon, or some entity cursing her.

"What exactly do you want from me? Just help me see the ending safely? Then I can go home?"

She didn't recall saying she'd die happy helping someone. She'd probably said it meaning to help someone specific.

That someone was likely the Male Lead, Do-gyeom Seo.

"Intensity adjustment?"

It was a game restricted to ages 19 and up. And the reason was its 'brutality.'

Adjusting the intensity meant...

So, change Do-gyeom Seo's cruel nature. Since she'd already prevented I-heum Seo's death, it seemed somewhat possible.

Yi-hae Baek nodded and asked,

"Once that's done, I can go home, right?"

"Just answer the question."

Only then did Yi-hae Baek relax her scowl and nod.

"Got it. But in return, don't touch my memories ever again. I'll handle things myself."

"And you said you'd answer my questions if I saved that guy, but why didn't you give the reward right away? Status Window, you slacking on the job?"

Yi-hae Baek ground out through clenched teeth. It felt like it'd made her suffer all that hardship and then conveniently 'forgot' the reward, expecting her to let it slide.

In response, the Player Status Window replied.

"Ah? Ah? Ah~?"

Furious at the lame non-excuse, Yi-hae Baek mimicked it loudly for emphasis, and a message popped up in a panic.

"If I hadn't called you out, you'd have just skipped it. You make me go through hell, and 'oops, forgot' fixes everything?"

"Pass. Nothing right now, so when I ask later, pop up and answer immediately."

"And since you didn't give the reward on time, cough up another one."

No face to see since it was a Status Window, but if the other were here, they'd probably be staring at her like, 'What a punk.'

Still, Yi-hae Baek brazenly held out her hand and jiggled it demandingly. Peak delinquent move, no doubt about it.