Chapter 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Cutter Knife Blessing (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Don't mess with me."
"Tch, no dice."
Adel scowled, turning away with reluctant steps.
In that brief instant, she had finished her analysis and decided I was harmless.
Why would a woman this sharp fixate only on me? What was she missing?
She must have planned to use my blessing to live easy.
"Still, half of that was sincere."
"……."
I doubt it.
"More importantly, I want to test this blessing. How do I use it?"
"There should be a details section in the blessing description."
[Cutter Knife Blessing]
It's really there.
I tapped it without hesitation. A massive wall of text unfolded before my eyes.
Cutter Knife Blessing
Grade:EX
Description:Cuts anything.
(Cutter Knife equipped only)
- Swordsmanship Comprehension +100,000x
- Heart Image Comprehension +100,000x
- Instant Potential +100,000x
- Self-Control -10,000x
(Penalty inversely proportional to user's Heart Power.)
Whoa... what the hell is all this?
I didn't know much, but I could feel it.
These were insane numbers.
As I swallowed hard in tension, Adel, who had been enjoying her tea nearby, chimed in casually.
"Just so you know, if you're gonna test it, do it outside."
"Ah... sure."
But where do I get a cutter knife?
'Wait, does it even exist here?'
I'd heard this world's setting was early modern.
"Are you an idiot? They have them at Everything Store."
"Haha! I thought you were all stiff, but you make lame jokes like—"
"...Jokes?"
Adel's expression turned serious in an instant.
Her reaction was dead serious.
Why the sudden change?
I thought we'd bonded over dinner.
"Tch, this is why city folk... Be careful from now on. Even villagers have everything. I used to be one of them."
"Ah, yes...."
"I'm heading out soon to buy ingredients for kimchi stew tonight. Want to come along?"
"...Kimchi stew?"
Kimchi stew in a romance fantasy?
I couldn't tell if she was joking or serious.
As evening fell, I quietly followed her without another word.
The moment we entered the village outskirts, I couldn't believe my eyes.
Amid the medieval European stone buildings stood a jarringly red sign.
Crude wooden letters boldly proclaimed three words.
[Everything Store]
...It's real?
Adel, now in her outing clothes, lifted her skirt hem slightly and climbed the steps.
I followed with a hollow laugh.
The inside was even wilder.
Faint magic stone lamps—some kind of magitech—hung from the ceiling, illuminating wooden shelves crammed with all sorts of junk.
Magic pens, iron pots, even a jar labeled "MSG" magic powder.
The "everything" vibe made my head spin.
The building and customers' clothes screamed romance fantasy, but it felt oddly homey.
'...Yeah, okay.'
I might have been too stuck in my preconceptions.
Everything I'd known came from human-made webtoons.
Think about it: in a world where magic outdid science in efficiency, it made more sense they'd advanced this far.
I wandered, scanning the shelves.
In a corner with stationery, something familiar caught my eye.
The shape was a bit off, but it was definitely a cutter knife.
"Oh, found it."
As I reflexively reached for it—
Slap!
Adel's slender hand grabbed my wrist.
"Careful. Did you read the description properly?"
"Description...? Oh."
[Self-Control -10,000x]
Forgot about that.
The insane buffs hid that nasty debuff.
I hadn't felt it from the text alone, but Adel seemed to know something, wagging her index finger at me.
"I'll pay for it, so wait outside."
"Got it. You got money?"
Come to think of it, how'd she shop before?
"Embezzled it while messing with the console earlier."
"Ah."
"Pretend you never heard that. If we get caught, we're both done."
"No worries."
Nod of approval.
I'd just cut ties and bail if it came to that.
But kimchi stew? Irresistible.
"You putting pork in it?"
"Obviously."
Preparations done, we arrived at a deserted wasteland.
She'd warned me the whole way.
No touching the cutter knife—could cause casualties.
Honestly, I was skeptical.
I knew it was dangerous from the description, but...
'Mass casualties?'
I'd consumed plenty of subculture media, but a cutter knife splitting mountains or parting seas? Hard to grasp.
'Well, time to find out.'
Adel had memorized the guide manual to help me adapt.
Having her here was reassuring.
She confidently held a sword radiating ominous energy—from who knows where. Probably embezzled too.
"Draw your sword when ready."
"……."
Her serious tone and expression ramped up the tension.
"...Here goes."
I swallowed dryly, unwrapped the packaging, and gripped the blade—no, the cutter knife.
Then.
[Cutter Knife Blessing]
Thump!
Thump thump thump thump thump!
My heart went into overdrive.
My body heated up.
Like reaching peak excitement.
'This feeling...!'
In that moment, the world sharpened into focus.
[All stats boosted.]
[Heart's Eye unlocked.]
Time slowed.
Mumble, mumble.
Adel's lips moved.
I couldn't hear a word. Just boiling euphoria whispering mechanically to me.
-Swing it. Cuts anything.
I turned, assuming position toward the target rock mountain.
I'd never learned swordsmanship—only seen it in subculture media.
Yet somehow.
[Swordsmanship Comprehension boosted massively]
I swung.
Naturally, like a memory from childhood.
Shraaaaa—!
As commanded.
Nothing in this world I couldn't cut.
—Shing.
The rock mountain parted smoothly like tofu.
No roar, no flashy effects.
Just a sharp rupture of air scraping my eardrums, then the summit slid down against gravity.
Rumble—!
The belated thunder shook the wasteland.
Hundreds of tons of rock tumbled along the cut, kicking up thick dust clouds.
'...I did that?'
Omnipotence surged down my spine.
But it twisted into something grotesque in seconds.
[Insufficient Heart Power: Self-Control depleted.]
[Severing Instinct dominates Heart Image.]
"Urgh...!"
"Stop!"
Brain-melting pleasure painted the world like a 3D sim.
Everything turned polygonal, lines emerging.
On distant clouds, the ground below.
Even on Adel.
"......Stop! Yujin—drop the cutter knife—"
Instinct screamed.
These were cut lines.
Her voice echoed faintly through the ringing.
Moving lips, desperate eyes.
Screaming something urgently, but I couldn't hear.
Only one command rang clear.
-Cut. Anything.
A vivid red cut line across her pale neck.
How would that feel?
The urge to see that slender neck slice smoothly like the mountain surged—
"Remember. This is just temporary."
Adel drew the ominous sword.
Black aura poured from it into my body.
[Critical intervention detected]
[░▒▓█ intervenes in possessor's Heart Image.]
E̸R̸R̸O̸R E̸R̸R̸O̸R E̸R̸R̸O̸R ...
Bam—!
A chilling, heavy pressure snapped me back, crushing my body.
Adel was suddenly in my face, slamming the sword hilt into my solar plexus.
"Guh...!"
The air rushed from my lungs.
Strength fled; I dropped the cutter knife and went limp.
My eyelids drooped.
"Ah... no......"
"This won't work once your Heart Image and Heart Power strengthen. We prepare now."
"Kimchi... stew... was looking forward... to it...."
"...Kimchi stew?"
Darkness swallowed my vision.
"...Pfft, that excited?"
The silver-haired woman murmured softly, pulling the fallen man's head onto her lap.
She gently swept back his messy bangs with slender fingers.
Gazing at his sleeping face, her eyes held a deep longing beyond first meetings.
"Of course. You've always been like that. Once hooked on something weird, you dive in headfirst."
Her eyes rippled like abyssal depths.
So different from watching through a monitor.
"Don't worry. This time, I'll watch from the closest seat until you fulfill that romance."
She leaned down carefully. And pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.
The sun was setting.
It was a windy night.