Chapter 2: The Price of Power
I barely managed to shake off the goblin horde that was chasing me.
I entered a cave.
“Just wait and see. You little shts, acting wild just because you have numbers on your side.”
To be exact, the place I came into was a secret laboratory hidden underneath the cave.
Click.
A secret passage disguised with dirt, leaves, and a disgusting-smelling perfume.
If you climb down the ladder under that, you find this place.
This is the secret lab that created the body I’m now possessing.
“It’s dangerous every time I go out for food… but I can’t starve to death like that crazy fcker.”
After barely dragging my legs, which were still shaking from running outside, I sat down on a chair and threw two dead rabbits on the ground with a mutter.
A skeleton lay collapsed in a corner of the lab.
Turning my head from there, I looked over at the mirror installed on the other side of the experiment table.
I could see the body I possessed.
Stitch marks all over the body, patches of mismatched skin, and a cold, unfamiliar expression beneath messy, overgrown hair.
None of it looked like the ‘me’ I once knew.
“……….Dmn it.”
As I swore and turned away, I saw the documents that helped me realize over the past few days that I had been possessed into the world of ‘Yeong-gwan-dok.’
Notebooks haphazardly stacked on a table full of white glass bottles.
Those notebooks meticulously recorded the daily experiments conducted to make this body, with every process detailed by date.
Beneath those experiment logs was a diary, and reading it would provide clues about the current situation.
Even the way the dates were written matched ‘Yeong-gwan-dok,’ but the truly crucial part was the name written here.
[ Pauche ]
The person who created this secret laboratory, and the one who performed all sorts of experiments on the body I now inhabit.
A name that, in truth, is only briefly mentioned early on in ‘Yeong-gwan-dok.’
At the royal ball, after the sub-male lead blew up this island and killed all the monsters, he spoke in front of the invited noble guests.
– Oh, right! After blowing up the island, turns out there was a wanted criminal from your duchy in the back. What was the name, again? Pa… Pauche, I think?
The fugitive Pauche.
Once an alchemist, he supposedly came all the way to this monster island to conduct forbidden human experimentation and set up his hideout.
Of course, all of this background only serves to highlight the sub-male lead’s power in his first appearance during the ball.
But now it seems, before that guy swept the island, Pauche was already dead.
Given the holes in the moldy clothes draped over the skeleton, he probably got injured while out searching for food, didn’t manage to find more provisions, and starved to death.
‘Even in the last page of the diary, he scribbled in anger about how slow the results of his experiments were coming.’
To sum up:
The time it took to create the experiment subject was far longer than expected, and Pauche, unable to endure it, starved to death.
And—
From the last dated entry in that diary, there’s exactly one year until the story in ‘Yeong-gwan-dok’ begins.
I was possessed into this body sometime between those two points.
They say it usually takes several months for a corpse to turn into a skeleton in spring or fall.
If that’s the case—
‘There’s less time than I thought.’
At best, I have about half a year to escape this hellish island.
If I don’t, I’ll end up dead by an ‘human’ with more power than any monster here.
But I can’t just throw a raft into the sea and leave.
There are monsters in the surrounding waters who destroy and devour anything that tries to cross in or out.
So there’s only one way to live.
Defeat all the monsters on and around this monster island, and escape smoothly before that damed sub-male lead wipes out the whole island.
“Haha, sh*t.”
If you’ve read the early part of ‘Yeong-gwan-dok’ and you know even roughly what kinds of monsters exist on this island, you might think this is an impossible task.
But I’m different.
Looking back in the mirror, I see my upper body—thin and frail at first glance.
Thud.
The corners of my mouth curve up into a circle.
Despite being called an experiment subject, I can’t feel a single trace of mana, and even when I raise my arm, there’s barely any muscle.
But I already realize I’ve been given an incredible gift in this world.
Tap, tap—
I poke my legs, which were still shaky from earlier, and already, they feel fine.
Only a moment ago I was having muscle cramps and spasms from running away from that goblin horde.
“Good as new.”
Now, nothing.
Even the ‘purpose of the experiment’ written in those research logs revealed it—I’ve gained something.
[ The Way to Achieve the Ultimate Body ]
Anyone who’s ever worked out has probably dreamed at least once of the ultimate body.
In my previous life, which now feels like ancient history, my older brother mumbled these things almost every day.
– I want to get swole every day, but it’s not easy.
– Should I try using supplements? No, that’s a bit much.
He wanted to strengthen his body faster and harder—and anyone serious about training knows the logic:
You don’t improve your body or your muscles at the moment you exercise.
Only after you tear your muscles with intense workouts and then give them enough rest, do they recover stronger and fuller than before.
This exercise–supercompensation cycle requires time, and impatient people end up tempted.
They want something to shorten that time—something to make recovery fast and massive—so they turn to drugs.
If you use those, you can do a second workout and tear your muscles deeper before others even finish recovering.
But that’s not all.
Top athletes in combat sports like the UFC reportedly use drugs that boost their stamina, enhance concentration, and even maximize testosterone so they don’t feel fatigue.
They say using them is like riding a motorcycle when everyone else is peddling a bicycle.
From that perspective—
My body now is basically one that’s on something way stronger than any drug, running 24/7.
“Crazy.”
All I did was eat some roasted rabbit.
I roasted a rabbit near one of the secret vents Pauche installed in the hideout, and within thirty minutes of chewing it down—
Ssst.
There’s more power in my thighs.
Just running from the goblins outside cramped my legs, but now the muscles are stronger and bigger!
“This is cheating…”
I roll up my pants and look at my thigh.
Unlike before, when it was all dried up, I can see the outlines of my quads.
Smirking in disbelief, I flip through the research journals on the lab table once more.
There are lists of expensive monster serums Pauche bought to build this body.
“Ogre, troll, lycanthrope… what, a golem core?”
Below that, beside a pile of headache-inducing formulas, all the effects are summarized.
[ Recovery Enhancement ]
[ Nerve Enhancement ]
[ Strength Enhancement ]
[ Ligament Enhancement ]
[ Mana Enhancement ]
.
.
.
All sorts of ridiculous things.
But that’s not all.
Rustle.
I found what looked like an anatomical diagram.
The cords—probably nerves—were thicker and longer than a regular person’s, and the bones, too, visibly larger.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Suddenly, my heart started to pound.
And an exclamation I couldn’t hold back.
“Wow.”
Even though I’m trapped alone in this hellish world, fighting to survive, with no promises for what comes after—even though I’m totally isolated—
“This body is insane…”
I couldn’t suppress the thrill at the thought of putting this new body to use.
I guess, just like my older brother, I had the heart of a true gym rat deep down.
Looking in the mirror, my mouth was stretched wide in awe before I even realized it.
“Alright then.”
There was only one thing left for me to do.
Build the perfect body to survive this fcking island.
Still looking at myself in the mirror, I slowly spread my legs shoulder-width apart.
I decided to start with squats.
Even now, with barely any muscle, just a few squats made my legs shake again.
And from outside the cave, the roar of some unknown monster echoed.
“Kuoooooooh!”
As I started to sweat and got immersed in my training,
“Twenty… one! Twenty… two! Huff… puff!”
At some point, a strangely crazed grin had started to form on my face.