The profiler, the scammer and DHB (1)

On the way, I checked my rewards.

'System window.'

A green panel appeared in front of my eyes.

'Open rewards.'

First, I looked at the item I got.

[Low-grade healing potion.]

As expected, it was a low-grade item.

The advantage with the system is that the things given by the system can be kept in its inventory. However, it doesn't work for other objects.

Next, I checked my stats.

[Player #156574631: Ena James

Stats: Agility Lv.1; Dexterity Lv.0,8; Stamina Lv.1,1; Strength Lv.1.

*5 additional stat points available.]

And here are four stats arranged in the alphabetic order due to obsessive-compulsive disorder, with no extra info in the system window because of laziness to add useless stats with a value of 0.

I mean, here are four stats randomly arranged. I'm not saying that I'm lazy and have a compulsive-obsessive disorder, not at all.

By the way, I remember that there was a trick for choosing a character's player number, maybe I should check if that trick was used here.

I put it in a corner of my mind for now and deliberated whether to spend my stat points.

How did I even manage to get a stat lower than 0? Shouldn't my stats be at least around 2 or 3?

I'm not that weak. Even though my hands usually tremble slightly, it doesn't mean that my dexterity should be under 0. I can still put a thread in a needle.

At best, an ordinary person's stats are around 4 or 5, or even 6 for very fit people and athletes.

At least, I shouldn't surpass human standards or the authorities could easily suspect that I'm a player.

Let's raise all my stats to 2.

After spending all these stat points, there was still 0,9 stat point left.

Feeling a weird power coursing through my body, I then looked at my skill.

Skills are supernatural abilities that can be related to physical abilities, magic, black magic, divine power, killing people, cooking, memory or anything else.

[Player #156574631: Ena James

Stats: Agility Lv.2; Dexterity Lv.2; Stamina Lv.2; Strength Lv.2.

*0,9 additional stat point available.

Skill: Imagination Lv.1.]

Imagination? What was that?

However, due to my laziness when writing the novel, there was no skill description because I thought that figuring out their skill's effects themselves was part of the characters' adventure. I even nearly didn't let characters know their skill's name so I'm lucky I didn't do it.

Still, 'Imagination' was a skill that never appeared in my novel.

Did I have it because I was an author?

I tried to activate the skill but it didn't work.

After a few more times, I sighed and closed the system window.

Great, I don't even know how to use my own skill.

On the way, I watched the people coming and going, continuing their daily lives normally.

Most of them surely didn't know what had happened while others had gone through the 1st scenario.

They ignorantly walked on the streets, unaware that there had been several deaths nearby.

I turned my gaze away and continued to walk.

Then, I took out my phone, which was on the verge of turning off because of its low percentage of battery, and went through my notes.

However, even the notes related to my novel were mysteriously locked and I couldn't open them.

To unlock them, I had to enter a password, but I had no idea what it was.

I blindly tried a few passwords I commonly use and searched for ways to bypass it or reset it but failed.

Well, it was to be expected since I'm not the one who set up these notes' password to begin with.

In the end, I gave up and arrived at my apartment.

After climbing up the stairs and taking out my keys, I unlocked my apartment's door and took off my shoes and coat.

Then, I noticed the gun in my pocket and wondered where I could hide it.

Usually, it'd be better to cover it with charcoal in the fireplace, but I don't even have any fireplace.

I could also put it in my underwear, but that's too cliche. There's no way policemen wouldn't do a body search if they're looking for a gun to begin with.

By the way, there's no hole in the floor either. I would definitely be very bad if I were in a mafia movie.

After thinking for a while, I went to the kitchen and took a knife before heading to my bedroom.

Then, I lifted up my mattress and cleanly cut the seams just enough for my arm to to have enough space to enter inside. After that, I removed a bit of cotton (or whatever was inside) in the middle of the mattress right about the size of the gun I had to hide.

Before putting it inside, I cleaned the gun first to remove the potential scent of gunpowder since it had already been used before. I even added a faint perfume because of paranoia just in case (aka an insect barrier because I didn't have anything else at hand), and removed all my fingerprints on it. Then, I used a thread of the same color as the seams to sew back the mattress, trying to make it as natural as possible.

There, it's done.

If I have nowhere to hide something, then I only have to create such a place. Now, even if anyone's searching for a gun in particular, they'd need a metal detector to find it.

Hmm. I should also find a countermeasure for that then.

Even though what was supporting the slats was already made of metal, I took all my coins of 1, 2 and 5 cents and sprinkled them right under the mattress.

That way, even if the police has metal detectors, I still have a chance to divert their attention by making them think that what they detected was the money.

Actually, that's bullshit. I don't even know how a metal detector works, and if it's equipped with a radar that displays the shape of the metals found then the coins will be useless.

Anyway, it's just to say that the gun should be nearly impossible to find.

If someone indeed finds it, I'll say it was already in the mattress and I have nothing to do with it. Perfect crime.

I knew I'd make a good criminal.

I looked down at the knife in my hand and thought that I should keep a foldable one on me just in case. After all, I'd need one to open back the mattress if there's an emergency and I need the gun, or for self-defense in general.

After putting back the knife in the kitchen, I saw my reflection on the glass and noticed a problem I had forgotten about.

The unfinished haircut.

Grabbing my hair, I deadpanned.

It's really obvious, I should do something about it.

With a pair of scissors, I tried to cut the longer part to the same length as the rest, but managed to make it even shorter than the part the hairdresser had cut.

Please, no-

Dejected, I put the scissors back to their original place to avoid making it even worse.

I shook my head and remembered to charge my phone before grabbing a bag of chips and settling on the edge of the sofa, my laptop on my lap.

In truth, I don't really see the difference between this laptop and a regular computer since I always need to be near a power outlet because it automatically turns off when it isn't charging. Well, I guess it's better than nothing. It's a bit old, but it's still works.

Entering my password, I opened a blank page and thought back to today's events.

Did I act suspicious? Did anyone act abnormally?

Actually, yes and yes. No matter how I think about it, DHB is undoubtedly suspicious of me and he is also suspicious himself because of how easily he killed someone.

["I came out of prison only last week so I'm not quite sure if I fit into the category of 'civilized members of society'."]

The man with a ponytail had admitted himself that he came out of prison and some signs showed that he may know DHB. That could be a clue.

As for the other members, there were a little girl and a male nurse.

Did I tell them my name? Did they see it? Did they remember it? Will they keep their mouths shut?

I had no way to know that. Even though I warned them, they might talk about the scenario. DHB could also choose to denounce me to get rid of me, but I doubt it since that could expose him as well. However, there are still ways for him to do so anonymously. Well, let's trust that I'm not important enough for him to bother doing so.

The male nurse should have erased the contents of the video surveillance if there were cameras, but I don't know if there's still a way to restore the deleted recordings for professional hackers. Moreover, the fact that the contents were deleted would only make the situation look suspicious.

Anyway, there's no way there wouldn't be any camera in a hospital of all places. If someone were to steal patients' files or kill people in their sleep, for example, that could be very bad. There's also the possibility that the male nurse didn't delete the cameras' recordings for whatever reason.

I had been careful to not let my DNA anywhere and wiped the armrests of the seat I was on just in case, but there are people who knew that I was in the hospital anyway, like the hairdresser and the people who brought me there—if they are still alive, that is.

I sighed. I left too many uncertain factors…

No, just look at what I'm thinking since earlier. I really seem like a professional criminal.

For a long time, I continued to stare at the blank page.

Then, my fingers touched the keyboard and I began writing.

Clac, clac, clac.

In the empty apartment, only the sound of keys being pressed and the occasional munching on chips resounded until late into the morning.