Chapter 97: Prime Leveling up Ground

The blaring sound of my phone's alarm jolted me awake. Groggily, I slowly opened my eyes and found myself in a modest hotel room with just one bed. Earlier, I had decided to check into this room, desperate for some sleep after the long and exhausting night.

I glanced at the clock and noticed it was already 9:00 am. It seemed pointless to go to school at this hour, and I was certain that Alice needed more time as well.

"What should I do today?" I wondered aloud, determined to use my time wisely when I wasn't chasing after her. While my mission was undoubtedly crucial, leveling up and earning more XP were also top priorities. In a worst-case scenario, I could focus on increasing my charisma to offset any potential penalties.

I knew that a permanent deduction in my attributes would be a setback, but it wasn't as if it would completely cripple me.

My primary concern should be focused on increasing my strength right now.

Last night had made it painfully clear how powerless I was against those mysterious individuals.

My skills have become almost useless due to the overwhelming gap between our stats. I need to find more effective ways to ensure I don't die before I even reach my full potential. Survival is paramount at this point.

"I had to find a faster way to gain more XP," I sighed, realizing that I couldn't simply go around the city and beating up people for experience points.

With today's advanced CCTV systems and all the surveillance in place, it would only be a matter of time before I ended up in prison if I continued down that path .

But what should I do then? It's so much easier to get EXP from jerks and douche-bags because I can just pretend I'm delivering justice when beating the crap out of them, but strolling around town trying to provoke others to bully me won't work anymore. I don't mean to brag, but I'm just too darn handsome now to even be a target for bullying in the first place.

I'd have to put in some serious effort to force someone to insult me.

If I still had my old face, I'd bet people would insult me every step of the way. I might have leveled up to 100 in no time with that face! Talk about an EXP grind!

—

"Zuzu, you're okay now?" Ok-ki greeted me with a smile as I entered the bar.

That's right, I had returned to the gang after Dang Bak smoothed things over with them. Now, I could finally begin my plan to farm EXP from these guys.

Initially, my plan had been to quietly earn EXP from the shadows, but now that I needed more experience points, I saw the potential profitability of being in a gang. I mean, my job here was literally to intimidate and beat up people. It was like a prime leveling up ground for someone like me.

"Yeah, I just needed a little rest," I replied.

"Good, good. By the way, Mr. Obo told me to have you go to the meeting room on the 4th floor if I see you. It seems like the newbies have some special mission," Ok-ki leaned in and whispered.

"Special mission?" I was a bit confused by this development, but I had already checked with Dang Bak, so I wasn't too worried.

"Alright," I answered and promptly headed to the 4th floor to see what this special mission was all about.

Inside the meeting room, the same place where we had been recruited, there were already 12 people seated in a distinctly gangster-like manner. That's right, they were all slouched and exuding that typical tough-guy aura. I even spotted the red-headed guy I had beaten into a pulp a few days ago among them. It seemed like I was in for an interesting gathering.

He simply gazed at me, remaining quiet, while the others attempted to check me out. However, I hadn't come here to make friends with them, so I simply ignored their scrutiny and took a seat in the corner, keeping to myself.

CREEEEAAAK!

The door swung open, and my attention was immediately drawn to the familiar face of the person who entered.

"It's him!" I exclaimed.