Stranger's Handbook - Chapter 29: The Adventurers’ Excuse

WINNER: 3rd Place, 2021 Werewolf Competition

[Mature Content]

After escaping suicide forest, August Moon finds that she has only gone deeper into the mysteries it holds. Lycans exist. But maybe she is something even stranger...

With a clandestine experimental pandemic, a decade-old murder mystery, and a timeless prejudice against strange members within the lycan community all simmering in the periphery of her newfound surroundings, August must fight to discover her own truth alongside a fierce and possessive male who claims to be her mate.

Wealthy, powerful and handsome; Gu Jingze is the cream of the crop in the entire country. Every guy wants to be him and every girl wants to be with him. His life is perfect… except that he has one tiny secret that keeps him from getting close to any woman—apparent impotency.

That is, until he wakes up in bed with a total stranger one day. The next thing he knows, he is forced to marry this stranger; a feisty and boisterous woman by the name of Lin Che.

Lin Che is an average girl whose only aim is to become a successful actress. Ostracized by her family and forced to become independent, she cooks up a scheme to attain her goal. But her plan fails and she ends up marrying this cold and seemingly heartless Gu Jingze. Not only that, she must now find her place in high society, where jealous women and devious plots lay abound – all while juggling her new career.

Two strangers under one roof: From the outset, they agree to stay out of each other’s lives, but he somehow always manages to appear during her moments of crisis. Slowly and unwittingly, Lin Che begins to find it difficult to imagine a future without him. Will their relationship grow, or is their marriage destined to remain just a contract?

- Description from Novelupdates

Ha Si-heon is a brilliant but obsessive Wall Street financier who has built an immense fortune driven by a fear of financial insecurity. After enduring a tragic childhood, losing his mother, and navigating financial ruin with his father during South Korea’s 1997 financial crisis, Si-heon immigrates to the U.S. He fulfills his father’s wish by becoming a doctor but finds himself drawn to the lucrative world of Wall Street.At a top hedge fund, Si-heon leverages his medical expertise to dominate biotech investments, thanks to an unusual ability to predict successful FDA drug approvals. He amasses wealth quickly, yet struggles with a pathological fear of spending money. His relentless pursuit of profit takes a dark turn when he’s diagnosed with idiopathic multicentric Castleman’s disease (iMCD), a rare, life-threatening immune disorder with no cure. His condition worsens despite aggressive chemotherapy, as the lack of research funding for this “orphan disease” leaves him without options.Just as Si-heon faces death, he miraculously awakens to find himself transported 10 years back in time, to the beginning of his career on Wall Street. Realizing he has a second chance, Si-heon is determined to not only reclaim his wealth but also amass enough money to fund a cure for iMCD. The story explores themes of greed, ambition, mortality, and redemption, as Si-heon seeks not just to survive but to redefine the meaning of his life.

【Infant Stage, a cumulative total of 10,000 leg kicks】【Attribute gained: Use It or Lose It】【As long as you continuously exercise the same body part, that part can evolve infinitely, but it can’t break the limits of carbon-based lifeforms】【……】【Student Phase, a cumulative total of 100 million characters read】【Attribute gained: Heavenly Intellect】【Photographic memory, learning ability reached the pinnacle of humanity】【……】【Adult Stage, a cumulative matching of carbon-based lifeforms’ limits 100 times】【Attribute gained: Multi-form】【The body is no longer limited to the frailty of carbon-based lifeforms’ flesh and blood, capable of evolving beyond life forms】【……】Having transmigrated, Lin Zichen was born with an achievement-based cheat.In this life, he only wanted to evolve quietly, continuously breaking through the limits of life forms, and savoring the pleasure that comes with the leveling-up process.