The Buffs I Raised Are Too Strong - Chapter 25

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 25.
No matter how much I rely on Sensory Amplification,
pinpointing Hyun Chaerin’s voice precisely in this vast Underground is impossible.
Well, if it were the original ability, it might be possible.
But based on my experience with the borrowed version, I can say with certainty it won’t work.
So what’s the solution?
The answer is simple.
I’ll channel every other sense into it as well.
Can I actually do that? I wondered.
But yes—surprisingly, I can.
Senses I don’t need while using Sensory Amplification.
For example, if I exclude smell and taste and amplify the rest, the other senses grow even sharper.
I discovered this fact when testing the ability before.
If I shut down sight, smell, touch, and taste entirely and funnel everything into hearing,
it’s agony—but dolphins would bow to the hearing that emerges.
“Exhale…….”
I passed this information along to Baek Yulheon, who already knew about my second ability.
Thinking this was our only way to find Hyun Chaerin, Baek Yulheon agreed without hesitation.
Which was fortunate, because
these two here possess physical prowess that far exceeds my own.
Unless something catastrophic happens, there’s no way I’ll be lost.
While I use Sensory Amplification, I can perceive nothing besides Hyun Chaerin’s voice.
I could careen off in any direction, crash into someone.
For us, who want to leave this place without incident, that would be fatal.
If a dangerous situation arises, they stop me by force.
That’s the entire plan.
I explained it to her lightly—just follow me.
“Ready.”
Status Window.
The list of abilities I can borrow appeared.
“Borrow, Sensory Amplification.”
The moment the words left my mouth,
a hammer-blow of pain crashed down on my ears.
“Ugh……!”
First came EDM.
Then cheers.
Screams.
Angry footsteps.
Various sounds invaded my ears as if gradually turning up the volume.
The hardest part was the voices.
Dozens, hundreds of voices whispered at my eardrums.
Distinct enough that I could tell each one apart.
I recalled a memory.
The memory of speaking directly with Hyun Chaerin.
Her distinctive voice was preserved clearly in my mind.
Slightly cool, tinged with sharp curiosity and playfulness.
Yet firm nonetheless.
“……!”
Found her.
Not far away.
Three people in the vicinity.
Two men, one woman.
The sound of fingers tapping a table, shoe leather scraping.
I gathered such noise and shaped it into form.
And before that vague shape conjured from voices scattered and dissolved,
I started moving my legs.
‘Three hundred meters, two hundred.’
Tap, tap-tap.
Something brushes past my shoulder.
Probably people from the crowd.
There’s nothing to worry about.
If things go south, Baek Yulheon and my sister will catch me.
‘100 meters.’
The voice grew noticeably closer.
Close enough now to see with the naked eye.
‘But why isn’t it stopping?’
Were there obstacles in the way?
Was there too much foot traffic to distinguish anything?
‘Should I stop?’
If I stopped now, I’d lose Hyun Chaerin’s voice.
If the surrounding area was blocked by obstacles and I had to detour, the only option would be to activate Sensory Amplification again.
“…….”
No, it was impossible.
There was no way I could use something like this twice in one day.
The hardest part after using Sensory Amplification was immediately after activation.
If I used it twice, I’d either collapse on the spot or suffer brain damage.
‘Turn it off and that’s the end.’
Had Baek Yulheon lost me?
No, that couldn’t be.
There was no reason for him to lose me unless something went wrong.
Which meant.
‘Something happened……?’
To my sister or Baek Yulheon.
Had something gone wrong?
“……Release.”
The ringing in my ears subsided.
Like arrows piercing through my body one by one melting away.
My mind grew calm, like still water settling.
Slowly, I recovered the vision I’d lost.
“……Master?”
There was no one around.
And then.
“Hyun Chaerin.”
Clear and distinct, Hyun Chaerin came into view.
* * *
There is a famous rumor that circulates among Awakeners.
A group that uses certain methods to enhance the Awakening Abilities of others.
Lower-tier Awakeners dismiss it as mere gossip and laugh it off,
but at some point, they learn the truth.
That it’s far more than just rumor.
The Underground Market.
A group that appears frequently in dark corners.
Their methods are trade secrets, and their prices are anything but cheap,
yet the Awakeners who patronize them are numerous enough to form long queues.
Why?
Because it works.
“That concludes my explanation. Do you have any questions?”
“……Yes?”
Hyun Chaerin asked back, bewilderment written across her face.
Before her stood a man in a suit, smiling pleasantly.
“Questions, you see. Well, I’ve given you a thorough explanation, so there shouldn’t be much else to ask, right?”
“Ah…… Yes.”
She couldn’t control the trembling in her legs.
It had been long since the ambient music in the bar was drowned out by the sound of her own heartbeat.
She’d missed most of what the man before her had said.
‘I…… why was I here in the first place.’
Her vision began to white out.
Fear and anxiety and a dozen other emotions tangled together, ravaging her mind.
If she were her true self, she never would have set foot in this place.
Even knowing the fate of Awakeners who depended on things like this.
Hyun Chaerin found herself drifting back to the past.
How had she come to be in this place?
Right.
It all began with a single invitation.
A Black Letter Envelope left at her door one day.
No recipient’s name—just a brief message and an address.
She’d known the sensible thing was to ignore it.
[If you wish to climb higher, you’ll need the proper tools.]
It was curiosity, mostly.
She’d wanted to see the face of whoever had sent something like that.
Nothing more, nothing less.
When she arrived at the location, she met the sender’s intermediary.
They already knew everything about her.
Her struggles, her limits, her crises.
And the means to overcome them.
Even then, it was still just curiosity.
Such a thing couldn’t possibly exist.
It had to be a con.
Her confidence in her own abilities remained intact—
even if she fell into a trap, she’d believed she could escape.
Until they showed her this Underground.
Doubt crept in.
But gradually, she felt herself becoming captivated.
Once she knew it wasn’t a fraud.
She’d seen the proof with her own eyes.
If she had this—
she could climb again.
The Tower. The Ranking.
But.
‘That’s not you.’
Everything she’d pursued until now.
Would she still climb the Tower if all of that vanished?
Conviction—that shackle around her ankle.
“…Hey.”
“….”
“Excuse me, Hyun Chaerin.”
“…Oh, yes?”
“You seem unfocused since earlier. Is something the matter?”
Damn.
The reverie had lasted too long.
Memory reasserted itself.
I came here to become stronger.
And I made my decision.
To set aside that shallow conviction and choose my future.
An Awakener’s worth exists only in climbing the Tower.
An Awakener who cannot climb is merely a powerfully built civilian.
A civilian bound by countless restrictions, managed even in trivial matters by the Management Bureau.
“…There’s no problem. No questions either.”
“Excellent. Shall we begin at once, then?”
“At once?”
“That demonstration I showed you last time.”
That.
A sort of performance I’d staged to prove it wasn’t fraud.
After seeing it, I’d made my decision.
“Now then, prepare yourself mentally.”
The man rummaged through his bag.
Pop.
A Glass Bottle emerged.
Inside it—
“…Ugh.”
Scritch-scritch-scritch—.
Something alive crawls inside the glass bottle.
A worm, you couldn’t really call it that.
It’s closer to the Parasite Creatures you find in the tower.
A centipede’s body.
Jaws shaped like a drill bit.
From this moment on, I will accept that thing into my body.
Just as I saw back then.
‘I’m scared.’
After it enters, you suffer excruciating pain for several minutes.
That person I saw then was thrashing almost to the point of losing consciousness.
When time passes and the pain subsides,
the creature’s venom spreads throughout your entire body.
The effects of the poison emerge gradually—paralysis of the limbs, hallucinations, and so on.
And along with it come the side effects.
Those side effects are precisely what I want.
I never learned the exact mechanism,
but I saw it with my own eyes, so it doesn’t matter.
My Awakening Ability amplified several times over, Mana Points that show no sign of diminishing.
With that alone, I can definitely crush that bastard on Floor 40.
“Come now, give me your hand.”
“….”
Click.
The glass bottle’s lid opened.
The creeping sound became far more distinct.
The creature crawling along the bottle’s exterior slowly poked its head out.
“Come, slowly. Approach it as if communing with it.”
The smiling man gripped my wrist and slowly drew it toward the glass bottle.
The thing that had only slightly poked its head out
now sensed a presence and slowly began to raise its body.
No eyes, no nose, no ears—no visible means of perceiving anything.
Yet like pure instinct, it approached to drive its cone-shaped jaws into human flesh.
“…Ugh.”
I clenched my eyes shut.
A sharp pain.
After that, just back to the ordinary world again.
Who could I blame?
In the world of Awakeners, the only one you can trust is yourself.
I made a choice to survive.
The responsibility for that choice belongs entirely to me.
I cannot hope for a helping hand.
“Come, a new horizon will open before you.”
The man’s voice, heard with my eyes closed, was sickeningly viscous.
I had my eyes shut, certainly,
but I could easily sense how terribly twisted the corners of the man’s mouth were.
A massive boulder seemed to be pressing down on my restrained wrist.
‘It hurts….’
Did I make the wrong choice?
Regret floods in.
But it’s too late.
As if being sucked into a vast gravitational pull, strength drains from my wrist.
The only one you can trust is yourself.
So I cried out within.
I want to go back.
My choice, my responsibility.
I cannot ask for help.
“One moment.”
Tap.
‘…What?’
My wrist grew light.
I had simply let go of the hand I was holding.
But why was it
that this unfamiliar voice
felt so strangely welcome?
My Buff Is Too Strong
Author |
Naengmyeon-hwachai
Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editor in Chief |
Editorial Department
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Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
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G720:N+A063-20260731072
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Submissions |
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Without the written permission of Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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