The Hidden Shop

Returning home, I lay on my bed, but the sensation felt a little strange.

Upon reflection, I realized it had been two weeks since I last stepped foot in my own house. I had spent a week in the accommodation provided by the Association, followed by seven days within the Dimensional Rift.

“Haa… I’m exhausted.”

It had been a long day.

From the final practical exam for Awakener registration to my first encounter with a Hell Gate, then the Baekje Guild, and finally Hwaryeon—the day had stretched endlessly.

I instinctively reached for my phone, yet there was little to do beyond browsing internet news or watching YouTube videos.

I made a conscious effort to avoid opening any messenger apps.

Venturing into them would only reveal past conversations, etched there like tombstones.

Though I had picked up my phone to read the news, several text message notifications, contrary to my expectations, caught my eye.

“Huh? Who could it be?”

The sender was none other than Lee Heejin.

[Are you really leaving me behind? ( •︠-•︡)]

[Wow, you actually left….٩(๑`^´๑)۶]

Several messages along these lines had arrived.

“Lee Heejin, huh…”

No matter how much I pondered, seeing Lee Heejin through the Witch’s Eye only solidified my suspicion that she was hiding her true strength.

She possessed a multi-attribute awakening with two distinct attributes, was ranked A, and displayed an undeniable composure while battling monsters.

The sole question that nagged at me was why she would deliberately conceal such formidable abilities.

‘Let’s decide after meeting her.’

Before I reveal my own story, I should first hear hers.

It wouldn’t be too late to judge her trustworthiness and whether I could confide in her after listening to everything she had to say.

[Let’s meet tomorrow.]

After sending a brief reply, I navigated to my missed calls list.

The name displayed there was my only friend, Han Areum.

Guessing the reason for her call, I pressed the connect button, a hint of apology welling within me.

After a few rings, I heard the weary voice of my sole friend.

– Hello?

“Areum, what are you doing?”

– I just got home.

“Your voice sounds a bit tired?”

– Yeah… another incident broke out today. We still haven’t gotten a handle on that Transcendent being incident from last time…

– Thanks to that, I’ve been in meetings all day and rushing around everywhere. Oh, and you met Department Head Kim Taeheon, didn’t you?

“Oh, I did. He arrived right as the practical exam was ending.”

– …But I heard things didn’t go well? I was too busy to hear the details. Why? What didn’t match up?

“Hmm… well, it’s like this…”

Initially, I had no intention of joining any guild.

There were various minor reasons for this, but the two most significant ones were paramount.

I would have to reveal the name of my utterly embarrassing unique trait, and I never knew when or where I might be dragged into a Dimensional Rift.

What if I suddenly disappeared and reappeared while with my guildmates? What if I vanished during a critical battle, leaving the others in peril? And what excuse would I offer upon my return?

However, not joining a guild presented its own set of problems.

To begin with, one couldn’t even enter a dungeon without being affiliated with a guild or the Association.

Regardless of Hell Gates or anything else, I needed to earn a living before I could fight.

Alone, I had no connections to process monster hunts, no means to generate income from byproducts, and no way to even enter a dungeon.

In that regard, my initial conversation with Hwaryeon had gone smoothly.

Kim Taeheon, Hwaryeon’s headhunter, had personally scouted Han Areum, fostering a deep familiarity between them, and their discussion had been quite amicable on that topic.

Until Kim Taeheon watched ‘that video.’

Somehow, he had acquired the footage of the final practical exam, which had concluded only about an hour prior, and proceeded to watch it right before my eyes.

In a word, it was excruciatingly humiliating.

I’d glimpsed it from the side: I was rolling left and right, tumbling forward after falling into a trap, making an absolute mess of myself.

After that, the conversation grew acutely awkward, and when I refused to disclose my trait and abilities, Kim Taeheon eventually departed.

“During the final practical exam, I fumbled so badly that it was all captured on video… I mean, how did he get his hands on that so soon after it ended?”

– Ah… that’s probably one of the lesser-known privileges of the Five Great Guilds. Still, it’s a shame… it would’ve been fun to work together.

“Indeed. It’s been a while since we last saw each other. Let’s meet up when you’re not so busy.”

– Okay. Let’s do that.

After some trivial chatter, we ended the call.

Her voice sounded so utterly exhausted that I felt guilty continuing the conversation.

‘The incident that broke out today must be the Hell Gate, right?’

Still, no casualties had occurred, and the incident took place during the Association-sponsored final practical exam. It was somewhat surprising that even the Hwaryeon Guild was getting so actively involved.

As soon as I hung up, a reply arrived from Lee Heejin.

[Tomorrow by 2 PM! I’ll send the address!]

I chuckled, hearing Lee Heejin’s voice in my mind, then closed my phone and tossed it casually onto my bedside table.

“Status Window.”

【Name】

– Park Minhyuk

【Stats】

– Strength: D / 37

– Agility: D / 33

– Stamina: E / 16

– Internal Energy: E / 44

【Attributes】

– Ice

– Lightning (True – Dragon Bone Sword)

– Sword

– Void

【Unique Trait】

– Stronger with Each Touch

【Traits】

– Endless Talent

– Mana Dominator

– The Resonator

– Celestial Martial Physique

【Trait Skills】

– Ah, Just Let Me Touch It!

– Touch It All You Want! – Lv 1

【Skills】

– Witch’s Eye (S) – Lv 1

– Emperor’s Sword Art (SS) – Lv 1

– Heavenly Thunder Imperial Heart Technique (S) – Lv 1

My status window was undeniably flashy, yet upon closer inspection, it revealed a complete lack of substance—a perfect reflection of my current state.

Four attributes and traits, with skills boasting S and SS ranks.

Anyone hearing this would likely tell me to stop exaggerating, yet I remained incredibly weak.

‘It’s too much.’

I could confidently assert that the three forms contained within the Emperor’s Sword Art alone were enough to ascend to the pinnacle of power.

However, the crucial issues were my current lack of combat-ready skills and my extremely low stats.

I had thought I could acquire skills by touching things whenever ‘Oh, Just One Touch!’ was off cooldown, but it seemed it wasn’t as simple as I’d imagined.

Even after touching Kim Gwanhyo, I had only gained 2 Strength and 3 Stamina, which made me realize just how many abilities the Transcendental being had bestowed upon me before.

From these facts, two possibilities could be inferred.

First, the harder something is to touch, the higher the probability of gaining skills or traits.

Alternatively, the higher the target’s stats, the higher the probability.

‘Or perhaps it’s both.’

And the fastest way to raise low stats was, naturally, through the ‘Point Shop.’

Most other Awakeners also earned points by hunting monsters or crafting items, but accumulating them proved to be much more challenging than expected.

I had visited the Point Shop once before, and the points required to raise a single stat were absurdly high.

Only then did I understand why Awakeners were so eager to achieve feats and enter the Hall of Fame.

It was known that one could earn 1 point for every 10 views in the Hall of Fame. Even if a person watched the same video dozens of times, the view count would only increase by 1. Nevertheless, some famous videos in the Hall of Fame had garnered hundreds of millions of views.

‘Come to think of it, I hadn’t checked that yet.’

The reward I received for achieving the feat of being the first to eliminate a Hell Gate: the Hidden Shop.

Opening the Hidden Shop was the same as opening the Point Shop.

“Open Hidden Shop.”

【Hidden Shop】

– Stat F-Rank +1: 100 Points

– Stat E-Rank +1: 1,000 Points

– Stat D-Rank +1: 10,000 Points

– Stat C-Rank +1: 100,000 Points

– Stat B-Rank +1: 1,000,000 Points

– Stat A-Rank +1: 10,000,000 Points

…

– Points Held: 11,054,428 Points

“…Huh? Am I remembering this wrong?”

The point cost for raising stats seemed odd. It differed significantly from the prices in the regular Point Shop I remembered.

“Open Point Shop.”

【Point Shop】

– Stat F-Rank +1: 1,000 Points

– Stat E-Rank +1: 10,000 Points

– Stat D-Rank +1: 100,000 Points

– Stat C-Rank +1: 1,000,000 Points

– Stat B-Rank +1: 10,000,000 Points

– Stat A-Rank +1: 100,000,000 Points

– F-Rank Random Weapon: 90,000 Points

– E-Rank Random Weapon: 900,000 Points

…

– Points Held: 11,054,428 Points

I hadn’t remembered incorrectly after all.

The prices were absurd, exactly ten times higher in the regular Point Shop.

While it would cost a million points to raise an E-rank stat by +100 to reach D-rank in the regular Point Shop, it only cost a hundred thousand points in the Hidden Shop.

Not only that, but various items not sold in the regular Point Shop were also visible.

“Why do I have so many points, though… Ah?”

‘Another video went up in the Hall of Fame, so the views must have increased accordingly, right?’

Even so, it seemed like an exorbitant amount.

With eleven million points, multiplying by ten for views meant…

“O-one hundred ten million?”

The combined views of my two videos in the Hall of Fame had already surpassed 100 million.

Moreover, the video of me eliminating the Hell Gate hadn’t even been up for a full day.

I recalled my first video, ‘The One Who Faced the Bitter Cold,’ being around thirty million views. I thought that had generated considerable buzz, but it seemed it couldn’t compare to the current Hell Gate situation.

This meant the view count had already reached approximately eighty million, despite how recently it had been uploaded.

Furthermore, my accumulated points were steadily climbing in real-time.

‘Wait a minute, I have eleven million points right now, and raising one D-rank stat to C-rank costs roughly one million points…’

I could raise all my current stats to C-rank.

This would instantly put me on par with veteran Awakeners who had endured for several years or more.

“Views are amazing!”

I was now experiencing, in real-time, the feelings of some YouTube creators who chased views with sensational titles and thumbnails. And, by extension, the aspirations of Awakeners who yearned to upload videos to the Hall of Fame.

While it was true that my videos performed exceptionally well, the average view count for the Hall of Fame was already quite high.

By uploading a video and earning a massive amount of points, one could use them to grow stronger even faster.

And based on that increased strength, they could then create a foundation to upload more videos to the Hall of Fame.

It was a system where those who were already strong grew stronger at an accelerated pace.

‘It’s also why first-generation Awakeners are overwhelmingly powerful.’

However, I had been granted an opportunity to catch up to them, thanks to my unique trait and the Hidden Shop.

“That aside, why did the views for this video rise so quickly?”

The incident involving the Transcendent being, the Witch of Bitter Cold, had been a globally significant event, even sending messages worldwide.

However, since it occurred in Korea and, despite the strong initial impact, no major incidents followed, I had anticipated it would settle around thirty million views.

The current Hell Gate incident was indeed a major event, but there were no casualties, and I had assumed the Association would quietly bury the matter since it happened under their watch. Yet, eighty million views in less than a day?

This could only be explained by the video spreading globally and attracting immense attention.

“What on earth happened to cause this…?”

I picked up my phone again and opened the internet, then—

“M-madness!”

I finally understood why the view count for the Hell Gate elimination video had exploded.