Jaemin sat up on the edge of his bed, scratching the side of his neck.
"Biome Burst."
He'd seen it in his skill list before, but never really stopped to think about it. Now that things were calm—well, calm-ish—he clicked on the skill and watched the info box load.
[ Information is currently unavailable.]
"Of course."
Jaemin muttered.
"Fucking figures."
He tilted his head, thinking. Just going off the name, it sounded massive. Maybe it created biomes. Or destroyed them. Or maybe reshaped the entire terrain. Either way, nothing he could wrap his head around without seeing it in action. And thinking too hard about it felt like mental cardio—no thanks.
"Too early, too unknown, too useless for now."
He sighed and leaned back, opening his Focus again.
FWIUP-PING!
A soft shimmer pulsed across his vision as the Heuristics Matrix fully calibrated. A new tab had appeared that he hadn't noticed before.
[LOGS]
He tapped it.
Most of it was empty, except for one lone entry labelled:
[Message]
It was the same one he'd seen when he scanned Gyeongnim's corpse. Still disturbing, even now. But the fact that it was archived meant he could replay messages. Maybe... collect more. That alone made Jaemin's eyes sharpen.
"Alright."
He muttered.
"So the system logs memories. Echoes. Not just visuals—possibly AI-fed reconstructions."
He closed the log, dragging his finger along the holographic tabs, until something new caught his attention.
Core Information
He blinked.
At first, he thought it'd be about the five general types—Velocity, Bastion, Precision, Flux, and Auxiliary. But no. This was different.
These weren't just any Cores.
These were the special ones.
All eight.
His breath hitched for half a second.
Each core had a symbol—ancient, etched in the shape of a crest. Beautiful, but unreadable. He tapped the first one.
[Core of Revelation]
Locked.
Scan Required.
Second.
[Core of Vitality]
Locked.
Third.
[Core of Ruin]
Locked.
And it went on.
Every one of them was sealed—until he earned, found, or faced them.
Except for two.
[Core of Tempest]
Status: Overridden.
Power: Unlocked.
[ A manifestation of storm energy, endless mobility, and high-pressure elemental force. Specialises in AoE dominance and field control.]
[Core of Shadows]
Status: Overridden.
Power: Unlocked.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
[Description: A remnant of forgotten divinity. Operates through concealment, terror application, multi-phase combat, and resurrection-type enhancement—houses instability risk when used beyond threshold.]
Jaemin slowly leaned back, reading that last part twice.
"Override-type enhancement…"
He muttered under his breath.
So that explained the Resonants. Core Override wasn't just a skill—it was a function embedded into the very code of his powers granted by the core of shadows. The maiden... Gyeongnim... all of it was tied to the Shadow Core's powers now.
He exhaled. Everything was slowly starting to connect—horrifyingly so.
Jaemin blinked. Closed the Core tab.
"Wait…"
Jaemin blinked, snapping out of his Focus interface.
"I'm wasting so much time."
He'd been sitting on his bed, sifting through screens and system tabs for nearly twenty minutes. The advisory meeting was in a few hours, and he hadn't even started his errands.
Without another thought, he jumped up and grabbed the three bags filled to the brim with Rift Crystals. He slung the heaviest one over his shoulder, balanced the others in his arm, and then snatched up the old bank book Taeha had once shoved into his hands with a grin and a
"Hyung, you're gonna need this someday."
His hands were full. So he did what anybody would.
Use his legs
He extended his leg. His toe reached back for the apartment key, hovered it toward the keyhole, twisted it, and locked the door with a soft clack.
Active Skill:
[Phantom Grasp]
The skill then floated the key into his hoodie pocket.
He smirked.
"Leave my skill, I'm such a pro at using my legs...on second thought...that sounds very wrong."
Jaemin stepped out of his apartment building with all his gear, flagged a cab, and gave the driver directions to the nearest ATM.
15 minutes later
He stood outside the machine, staring at the screen.
[Out of Order]
[Out of Order]
[Out of Order]
"All the ATMs in Seoul collectively decided to unionise today, huh?"
He muttered, dragging his feet inside the bank.
A well-dressed receptionist sitting behind a modern desk looked up. Her hair was tied into a sleek bun, her uniform was spotless, and her expression was professionally calm.
"Good afternoon, sir. How may I help you today?"
Jaemin lifted the heavy bag and dropped it on the desk with a gentle thump.
"I'd like to exchange these."
The lady blinked. Then slowly opened the bag.
Then she froze.
A full two seconds passed before she caught herself and switched back to her formal mode, though her eyes kept darting back at the glowing shards stacked inside.
"U-Understood."
She said, slightly flustered.
"Please give me a moment while I process the exchange…"
She pulled the bags over to a secure scanner and began feeding the Rift Crystals into the system. The screen behind her flickered as values began to tally. Jaemin just stood there, watching her expression grow increasingly stiff with every beep.
Finally, the system dinged.
Total Exchange Value: ?754,620,000
Amount Deposited to: [Han Jaemin – ***035-92-XXX]
Jaemin's eyes widened.
"Oh…?"
He wasn't expecting that. Not even close. He'd figured a hundred mil, maybe two. But this? This was seven hundred and fifty million won. Nearly a lifetime's worth of average income… casually sitting in his bank account now.
He blinked. Rubbed his neck.
"...I can finally afford socks without holes."
Truth be told, all these Rift Crystals weren't even his alone.
Taeha had given them to him. All of them. Every time they went on raids or cleared Rifts together, Taeha would hand Jaemin his share like it was nothing.
"Hyung, I don't need 'em."
He'd say with that same stupid grin, ruffling his own hair like a puppy.
Despite being from a prominent family—and the only young heir to an absolute powerhouse lineage—Taeha never really acted like it. He never brought up money unless it was to give it away, and when he did, he mumbled through it with a dumb sunshine-bright expression, like it was embarrassing to even mention.
Jaemin had always just listened, responded wherever needed, and made sure the kid didn't trip over his optimism.
"…He really is humble."
Jaemin muttered, half smiling.
"Sir?"
He blinked. Snapped out of the thought.
The receptionist stood in front of him now, holding a neat stack of papers and an eager expression.
"If you'd like."
She began with that professional tone again.
"We can add you to the VIP list. It's a premium Coreborn client program. Subscribing to it gives you access to higher interest rates, private Rift analysts, priority processing for crystal exchanges, and—"
She paused slightly, reading the subtle aura around him. Something told her this guy wasn't just another random core-runner with a lucky bag of shards. He looked normal—hoodie, damp hair, zero jewellery, not even a watch anymore—but something about him…
Yeah. She wasn't gonna let this one slip.
"You'd also get a personal vault for secure item storage."
She added.
"We don't offer that lightly."
Jaemin stared at the papers for a second.
VIP?
He imagined the attention that would come with it. More eyes. More handshakes. More reasons to explain himself.
"No thanks."
Jaemin replied, not even sparing the VIP pitch another thought.
He gave the receptionist a small bow out of habit.
"Thank you for your service."
The woman froze a little, then quickly composed herself with a polite nod, though her smile was clearly a few shades more defeated than before. Still, Jaemin had no regrets. If someone said no, it was a no.
She shouldn't be chasing anyone for a commission—especially someone who looked like he hadn't slept in days and wore sneakers that had seen better rifts.
Jaemin stepped out of the bank, grinning.
The satisfaction that came from seeing that huge deposit land in his account?
Unreal.
He wasn't expecting this much, not even close. He'd imagined a good sum, sure. Maybe a few dozen million, max. But this?
He flipped open his bankbook, just to double-check.
Rent? Paid.
Nari's tuition? Covered for the year.
Groceries, electricity, Mom's hospital bills—all of it taken care of.
And still, his total balance sat at:
?875,450,000,000 (around $630 million USD).
"…Holy shit."
He froze on the sidewalk.
No wonder that lady at the desk was offering him memberships like she was selling lottery tickets.
"I'm a walking cash cow now."
Jaemin mumbled, ruffling his hair, still processing the number.
"A broke-looking cash cow, but still."
He looked down at his hoodie. The same one he wore the day he flunked his first Core aptitude test. Still had the tiny ink stain on the sleeve.
No matter how much money he had now, it still felt weird. He still felt like the guy who'd count coins at the bus stop and panic when convenience stores double-scanned an item.
Even now.
But this time…
He could breathe a little easier.
"…First stop."
Jaemin muttered.
"Nice clothes."
