Everything I touch skyrockets in value:Chapter 2화2023-07-18 – GravityNovels (2024)

Home›Everything I touch skyrockets in value›Everything I touch skyrockets in value:Chapter 2화2023-07-18

Grandmother laughed like a child and wiped her wrinkled eyes with her sleeve.
“Still, it was a relief that your father-in-law decided to register your dad in the family registry…”
As I listened to the story, I found myself tightly holding my grandmother’s hand.
“Grandma…”
Grandmother tapped my hand gently and asked kindly.
“What is your dream?”
“Dream?”
What is my dream?
“I’m not sure.”
“Why wouldn’t you know? How do you want to live?”
“Well, I want to live grandly. I want to have a radiant thirties.”
“What do you mean by radiant thirties? Bald?”
“What…”
Doesn’t everyone have similar dreams?
But it seems so superficial and unrealistic, so everyone stays hushed and only talks about the fine things.
“Just to be wealthy, to have so much money that you can do whatever you want, not having to work.”
“Right, money is the best.”
“But grandma, it’s stylish when people who don’t have to work still choose to.”
“Style is important indeed.”
“Being a remarkable person with solid expertise in their field? But not a workaholic. More like going to work as if going on an outing, but still being an amazing genius?”
“Right, work-life balance is important too.”
How does grandma know words like style and work-life balance? Anyway.
“Also, taking good care of family and friends. Frequently giving nice gifts.”
“Oh my, our Yuwon is so filial. But what about a girlfriend?”
A girlfriend?
Sigh…
“For a radiant thirties, it’s not that I meet girls, girls come to meet me.”
“Oh my?”
“But I am a man who harbors the pain of a broken engagement deep in my heart, so I won’t easily open my heart.”
“Ah, it’s still radiant anyway! Grandma agrees!”
Grandmother raised her arm with a smile and lightly scolded.
“Then why haven’t you lived like that so far? Have you been playing and not working?”
I was at a loss for words.
If I had just played without working, I wouldn’t feel so unfair like this.
I worked overtime like having meals, and often inspected franchise locations even on weekends.
Meanwhile, trying to develop myself, I squeezed in time to attend barista, baking, interior design, and marketing lectures.
But then.
“Not everything works out just by trying hard.”
“Really?”
“If you pour in time, something qualitative should change drastically, right? But I always feel like I’m just walking in place.”
I saved money, but my house remained the same.
I built expertise, but left the company.
The relationships I poured my affection into went back to square one…
If only the quality of life improved as much as the effort and time I put in, I wouldn’t ask for more.
Grandma, observing my expression, responded with a deep understanding.
“The world is like that. It’s not like you get back honestly just because you’ve lived honestly. I know it well, indeed.”
Then she seemed to be lost in her recollections, staring into the distance.
Grandmother, who saw my father settle and have two children and live well, soon passed away from cancer.
What is she thinking?
Is she reflecting if she was rewarded honestly for all the struggles she faced in life?
I crawled on my knees to approach her.
And I embraced her frail body.
If she wasn’t sufficiently rewarded in her lifetime, I wanted to make up for it, at least in this moment.
“Grandma.”
“…Ah, Yuwon.”
Then, with a sniffle, Grandma said.
“Now… stop worrying about it.”
“Yes. I will stop worrying and live harder.”
“Really. I won’t let you worry about such things anymore. This grandma will.”
Grandma began to tell me a strange story, while continuously patting my back.
“…Listen carefully to what this grandma is about to say, and don’t forget it.”
Is she going to tell me the lottery numbers or something?
I pricked up my ears.
*
…A difficult morning, struggling with a hangover.
──────────
The tutorial for “Radiant Thirties” has begun.
◇ Quest: Obtain 20 identical items.
◇ Time limit: 1 minute
──────────
Something strange came to my vision.
You, machine, do you even consume?
Strings floating in mid-air.
──────────
The tutorial for “Radiant Thirties” has begun.
◇ Quest: Obtain 20 identical items.
◇ Time limit: 1 minute
──────────
“Hmm?”
Turning my head to the left, the text followed to the left. The same to the right.
In that surreal sensation, the hangover-hazy mind instantly cleared up.
‘So this is what Grandma was talking about!’
In the corner of my vision, the remaining time was displayed.
「00:00:55」
「00:00:54」
「00:00:53」
Only 50 seconds left?
Then, action should precede understanding.
‘Identical items, huh…’
Usually, households store a variety of daily necessities, but rarely do they possess dozens of one kind.
However, something immediately came to my mind.
“…Ah.”
Staggering, I opened a box lying on the floor.
Hundreds of wedding invitation cards piled neatly.
Purple envelopes sealed with silver seals, and horizontally placed seals had the phrase ‘To your cosmos, yours truly’ written on them.
…A phrase I found online after searching for days to look classy.
I even chose the envelopes in the color of cosmos flower petals on purpose.
“Ugh, why is the paper so stiff.”
Can’t even wipe my butt with this.
“Five… ten… fifteen… twenty.”
I grabbed 20 cards and checked the number again.
Exactly 20, right.
Now what?
「00:00:15」
「00:00:14」
「00:00:13」
Though I double-checked the quantity calmly.
It was indeed 20, without any defective ones.
「00:00:05」
「00:00:04」
「00:00:03」
Hmm.
「00:00:02」
「00:00:01」
「00:00:00」
All the time elapsed.
The text disappeared like smoke.
“…”
What have I been doing?
Did I see things?
…How about some hangover soup?
Pizza, maybe?
Nah, hangover soup is hangover soup.
There’s a place with good bone hangover soup just a 5-minute walk away.
Their radish kimchi and kimchi are especially amazing.
Last time I asked, they said they would soon start selling the radish kimchi and kimchi separately, so I’m looking forward to that.
“…”
But I couldn’t move.
Still clutching the 20 invitation cards tightly.
Because of the story Grandma told me in my dream.
She asked me to never forget, she earnestly pleaded.
So, pondering in thought.
Am I seeing hallucinations because of some madness, has the world turned into a game, or have I been blessed with some supernatural ability, I didn’t know.
Having done as instructed, I wanted to see something happen.
If the phrase “Radiant Thirties” was merely a grandiose illusion, let something corresponding at least appear.
Rejected a month ago, lost my job yesterday, here stands a thirty-year-old man holding 20 pieces of paper, looking pitiful.
Feeling like the world is a lie.
Everyone is mocking me, but let something good happen.
Then.
──Congratulations!
──You have completed the trigger quest, “First Belief” of “Radiant Thirties.”
The previous text emerged again.
──You have earned the qualification of ‘Quality Converter.’
──You are awarded the ‘Sub-space Workbench: Basic, Lv.1.’
Quality Converter?
Ah! That was the term Grandma taught me! Just as I thought so.
A flash of light struck my eyes.
“Ugh!”
When opened my eyes, a glowing sphere hung in the air.
It looked like a small sun, or perhaps a logo of a matcha brand.
Radiant red and yellow lights were spinning in circles.
A translucent center was brimming with an insatiable hunger.
It almost seemed to speak to me.
Give me anything, and I’ll consume it all.
Almost mesmerized, I reached out.
The 20 invitation cards I held swiftly flew in as if sucked by a vacuum cleaner.
Simultaneously, the text appeared.
──The power of “Quality Conversion” is exerted.
──Item: Custom-made wedding invites
──Quantity: 20
──Estimated work time is 1 minute.
──Would you like to start the conversion process?
Nodding, the glowing sphere whirled faster.
──Starting the “Quality Conversion.”
And after 1 minute.
The glowing sphere spat something out.
“Argh!”
…Hey, don’t spit it right in my face.
──Buuuurp.
It even burped? Just you wait.
Rubbing my forehead, I picked up the item on the ground.
“Huh?”
It was an invitation card as well.
But completely different from the custom-made wedding invites I had ordered.
Not 20, only 1.
──The conversion from “Quantity to Quality” is complete.
*
Lying on the bed, I examined the new invitation card.
At a glance, it was top-notch.
The silver seal felt cold and smooth, almost like real silver.
[To your cosmos─]
The phrase on the seal remained the same.
But the font differed.
Not a common graphic font, but elegant and modern like one crafted by a professional calligrapher.
The quality and design were so exquisite, it felt sacrilegious to break the seal.
Still curious about the contents, I opened it. Even the paper had transformed.
‘Wow… is this paper? Feels like leather.’
Choosing and wrapping each envelope, I had touched countless types of paper, so I knew.
This wasn’t paper suitable for invitations.
Blindfolded, one could mistake it for premium leather.
And for some reason, it was significantly heavier.
Whoever received this invite would sense the gravity of the ceremony.
The inner design had changed dramatically.
Composition, balance, contrast, color—a fresh yet harmonious design.
Something you’d expect to see in an exhibition.
The original invite was sophisticated in design.
But by comparison, it now looked like a supermarket flyer.
‘How much would this cost?’
Growing up, I had never received or seen an invitation of this caliber.
The previous invitation was already top-tier in the country.
Commissioned from a professional artist, its per-unit cost was triple that of a regular invitation.
‘Still, it was just a 2500 won card.’
However, this new card was a piece of art.
‘How much for this one?’
Calculating mentally: 20 regular invites converted into 1 premium invite.
2500 won times 20.
50,000 won.
Wow, a 50,000 won invitation.
That could treat a guest to six bowls of gukbap (soup with rice).
“…Ugh.”
Anyway, what’s the use of invitations and guests now?
I threw the card to the floor in frustration.
At that moment, the text appeared again.
──Completion of “Quality Conversion” requires consumption.
──Consume the converted item.
──Without any consumption, the power granted to you will be consumed instead.
──Time limit: 1 minute.
“What?”
Consume the invitation?
Does it mean the power will be consumed if I don’t consume it?
The countdown had already begun.
「00:00:57」
「00:00:56」
「00:00:55」
Rushing, I picked up the invitation from the floor.
Consuming the card must mean giving it to someone.
‘How, though?’
In such a situation, how to give it within a minute?
“…Huh?”
But you know what?
Suddenly, I felt a tummy rumbling.
A perfect use case came to mind, so I headed straight to the bathroom.
*
Thank goodness.
Maybe because of all the drinks yesterday, I managed to handle it within the 1-minute limit.
And, luckily.
The invite had a wedding photo inside, so I felt no guilt.
Of course, the card played a minor role in the task; the rest was settled smoothly with some tissue.
“Whoo.”
Upon leaving the bathroom, a window appeared.
──Congratulations.
──You have completed Tutorial Quest I: “The Basics of Quantity to Quality.”
‘Is it over? Easier than expected?’
Turning 20 fancy invites into a single top-tier one and consuming it in one go!
‘Seems plenty useful.’
If I gather useless things and convert them to quality, I’ll get good items, right?
──The experience of “Sub-space Workbench: Basic” has increased.
──Efficiency of “Quality Conversion” has slightly improved.
──Work time for “Quality Conversion” slightly reduced.
──Time limit for “Consumption” slightly increased.
The glowing sphere, which followed to the bathroom uncomfortably, whirled in delight.
If this workbench grows, conversion efficiency and time constraints reduce, right?

Everything I touch skyrockets in value