2

[I honestly want to punch him right now, but considering how powerful he becomes in the future, he'll definitely return it tenfold…]

He quickly dismissed the thought as he felt his annoyance turn into panic.

The moment he woke up was the moment he'll be arrested for trespassing, and maybe Yeong Joon would use this as an excuse to beat him up.

The thought made him shiver. One punch will lead him to a quick death.

As a quick resort to escape, he tried to open his inventory to only get a message with an error pop up. During this time was when he noticed his hand was completely white. He quickly rushed to the mirror to see his body completely white with no features on his face. He had a silhouette of his hair but no clothes.

He put his hand against the mirror, only for it to go through the mirror. For what he can remember, there was no such ability in his last life.

[As I thought the system is truly extraordinary]

But now it wasn't a matter of ability but getting out.

He quickly went through the walls to see a barrier surrounding the house and a bit further. He tried to leave, but the barrier was more like a wall to keep him in.

These types of barriers were common when it came to defending against monsters and even rich houses, but it was still weird to see one in the neighborhood that would stop people from passing by.

That is if the barrier stopped people, but as he thought about this, a person passed through the barrier.

This left only one type of barrier left, which would be getting permission to enter the barrier from the host. The host would be the person who put the barrier in the first place, but from what he could remember, Yeong Joon didn't know any magic.

In the first place, how did Choi Min-soo end up inside the barrier without access unless… the barrier only applied to him and no one else.

As he realized this, he decided to go back into the house to find another method of escaping.

But there was one thing he forgot… Anything he tried to grab ended up going through his body.

[Dammit..]

The chance of Yeong Joon waking up kept increasing as more time passed. This thought made him panic more as he started to hear him groan.

Now, there was only one thing left, and that was to see if he was able to touch people.

He couldn't help but let his eyes wander at Yeong Joon as he knew what he had to do.

His conclusion was that if he couldn't touch objects, then he couldn't possibly touch another human being.

This eased his mind a little as he extended his arm towards Yeong Joon.

He couldn't help but let out a sigh as his hand went through him. But before he could enjoy the moment, a bunch of windows quickly popped up.

{+1 level}

{Affection +2}

{Relationship lv2

Affection: 0/10

Friendly fire: On

Unlocked: Touch}

As he finished reading it, he felt someone grab his wrist.

He couldn't help but let out a small yelp. At this point, he knew that he had messed up.

As his eyes locked in with Yeong Joon, all he could feel was his stare, forming a hole through him.

[Goddammit, stop staring..]

Not only was the stare uncomfortable, but even the quiet atmosphere started to feel suffocating.

If he could, he would vomit once this was over.

He could have felt a relief wash over him once Yeong Joon started talking, but considering him, it would be even worse.

"Speak before I shove this in your throat." His voice was cold as he had his sword pointing towards Choi Min-soo's throat.

If he had time, he would probably have a good excuse for this, but considering he could feel the warmth of his enemy's hand, he could definitely feel pain.

That was just a guess, but it's not like he wanted to find out.

He also would have probably put his hands up only if his right hand wasn't being held hostage with someone's left hand.

He tried to think of an excuse, but nothing came to mind. As seconds passed, Yeong Joon started to become impatient.

Choi Min-soo felt the sword inch closer towards his skin which hurt like a bitch. His sweat made it even worse as he felt a drop touch the cut.

"You really want this." Yeong Joon said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Now was the time to say something, anything.

"I don't know why I'm here either." He managed to get out while trying to be as calm as he could. But the moment he let it out it was the opposite, shaky and quiet.

He could see Yeong Joon's brow furrow as he started to think but as seconds continued to pass the pain became even more unbearable.

Before he knew it he heard a small growl come out of his stomach which broke Yeong Joon out of his thoughts which turned into staring. And as much as he wanted to pretend this never happened he knew his face betrayed him as he felt his face warm up.

Nonetheless he felt grateful as the sword against his throat lowered. If he knew this was going to happen then maybe he would have eaten a cup of ramen whether it made him sick or not which to him was way better than going to sleep starving.

"...You'll probably go back once your timer runs out." Yeong Joon said, breaking the silence.

In a mumble he continued after letting out a sigh, something about it being night before looking back at Choi.

"There's food in the fridge." He pointed towards the door which he assumed was the way to the kitchen,"If I hear even a noise from you you're dead." He said before laying back on his bed, turning his back towards him.

Choi Min-soo didn't hesitate to fly through the door and over the fridge when he heard 'food' and 'fridge' in the same sentence.

As he opened the fridge he was hit with disappointment as all he saw were a few eggs and bottles of water trying to make up for the space left.

It was definitely better than just eating ramen but he knew Yeong Joon was financially stable so what was the reason that all he ate were eggs?? Eggs aren't enough by itself.

He honestly would have nagged him if it wasn't for the situation he was in.

[Don't tell me this guy isn't taking proper care of himself.. How did he becomes #1 if he only lived off this?]

The more he thought about it the more it annoyed him. He tried his hardest to become the best hero only to be beaten by the lack of nutrients of this guy.

He let out a sigh as he took out a couple of eggs and placed them on the counter.

He turned on the oven as he bent down to take out a pan.

He looked around to find a bag of spinach and carrots which were to expire the next day.

Now all he had to do was wash them.

-

While it took a while for Yeong Joon to eat, Choi somewhat felt a sense of relief after watching him take a bite. Maybe knowing that he wasn't eating enough or proper made him uneasy especially when the future #1 hero was this guy.

If Choi had an excuse for only eating ramen for months the difference would be that he wasn't one of the top heroes and he really needed to save money which sounded more like a shitty excuse.

But now that he came back to the past he really should start eating properly, that is once he earns a better living.

Now what mattered was that he was currently eating an actual meal and he had no intentions of not taking advantage of this weird situation.

Who knows how many times this situation would occur and it wouldn't be too bad when it came to leveling up the relationship between them. Maybe he could get some sort of new abilities.

Honestly that didn't seem too bad, stick around and get rewarded or scram.

The reward part was enticing, maybe that was the reason why he decided to make small talk towards the man.

"So going to any dungeons lately?" The moment he said it he realized how dumb it sounded but it's not like he could take it back or …go back in time.

The least the man could have done was answer but this prick decided to ignore him and continue eating. It would have been better if he was taken back to when they were in high school so Choi could at least get one last punch in before Yeong Joon became such a prick.

That's not true. Yeong Joon was a prick even in high school. That bastard and him fought over academics and anything each other did. If Choi decided to try painting Yeong Joon would let out a snarky comment which would lead them to another competition to who could paint the best.

Who could have the best grades, who did better on a test, who was liked more, baked the best, knew more, grew faster, even who was the better looking one, and etc..

"Girls, girls you're both pretty. Can you stop fighting now?" Hyejoo would say sometimes when the fight lasted longer than it needed to be. Or sometimes "Get a room you guys," she would say with a voice laced with sarcasm and fake disgust.

There was a time Choi thought Yeong Joon wasn't all that bad which later he was proved wrong. That later was when they competed for a trophy in track. "Don't be down, you'll probably win one of these in 10 years from now on," he said it with a smirk and Choi was sure he was the devil himself. That bastard. He took everything back about Yeong Joon not being all that bad.

After that he remembered praying for Yeong Joon to sprain his ankle multiple times but it never came.

Now he sat in the house of that same bastard needing to increase their relationship due to that the stupid system.

Thinking about it gave him a headache so to distract himself he took another bite of his bibimbap.

{System is hurt due to that statement}

He felt his breathing being stopped by the piece of food stuck on his throat. He smacked his chest to try to breathe and after no avail he quickly floated towards the kitchen to grab a bottle of water to quickly chug it.

He felt a sense of relief as he was once able to breathe but as he headed back to his meal he was met with Yeong Joon's staring. Made him wonder if he never experienced seeing someone choke whether that was himself or someone else. Not that it mattered right now.

Right now he had to check if he saw correctly so as he looked back at the system a new message came in.

{System is relief to see user #115523 okay}

Even though the cause of Choi's choking was the system, he was sure the system referred to him as a user. He heard how hunters once they reached C rank were granted store access from the system itself with the benefits of being able to contact other users and anonymously sell items.

..Choi had received early access from the system.

{System offers to bring you back to your body}

No matter how much he wanted to dwell on why the system would grant him early access he couldn't wait to try it out and perhaps couldn't wait to get far from Yeong Joon.

[I accept.]

Just like that he felt his eyes open and he was once again back to his room. He couldn't help notice how much he was sweating. Maybe it was because it was his first time but it was definitely something he could get used to.

Now all he had to do was browse through the market and as he kept scrolling the system had gifted him coins.

{System grants 1000 coins to user #115523 for unlocking the hunter's system}

He looked back at the market to see what he can buy with only to find the cheapest thing being 2000 coins each F rank potions.

Not only was he broke when it came to won but also when it came to coins. No matter how much it sucked to be broke, tomorrow was going to be an even worse day especially since he had to consume poison to build his tolerance.

Thinking about it made his skin crawl, but at least today, he won't be going to sleep hungry.