Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Sang-hyeok looked at Yun Chae-rin.
"Tell me."
"There are two."
Yun Chae-rin opened her mouth to state the first condition.
Knock, knock.
At the knock that came then, she stopped speaking and turned toward the door.
"Come in."
When Yun Chae-rin answered, the door opened and staff came in carrying the food they had ordered.
The staff set plates down in front of the two of them and filled their empty glasses with water.
"Enjoy your meal."
After the staff withdrew, the door closed again.
Steam rose from the freshly served food, but neither of them touched their utensils.
Yun Chae-rin resumed where she had stopped and raised one finger.
"No matter what harm comes from using the Spirit Vein Bracelet, Taeseong cannot be held responsible."
The <Spirit Vein Bracelet> was an object under a curse that drained all of its wearer's mana.
If the wearer's mana were completely depleted, their life could be in danger.
Yun Chae-rin looked at Sang-hyeok as if checking whether he properly understood the condition.
Sang-hyeok answered without hesitation.
"Fine."
"That means even if you lose your life, you won't hold Taeseong responsible."
"I asked for it knowing that."
Yun Chae-rin asked nothing further and raised another finger.
"The second is that you won't disclose anything we discussed today regarding Director Kang to anyone outside."
"I'll accept that condition too."
Both conditions were within what Sang-hyeok had expected, so he continued at once.
"In exchange, I have conditions of my own."
This time Yun Chae-rin waited for Sang-hyeok's words.
"Transfer full ownership and disposal rights of the Spirit Vein Bracelet to me."
"We already agreed to transfer it as compensation."
"Make it so you can't ask for it back later even if the Spirit Vein Bracelet's condition or value changes."
Yun Chae-rin's gaze fixed on Sang-hyeok.
"Do you think the Spirit Vein Bracelet's value could change?"
"I'm saying I'll take that possibility along with it."
"Do you have some way to break the curse?"
"That's for me to look into."
Sang-hyeok went on calmly.
"Taeseong won't take responsibility for any harm caused by the Spirit Vein Bracelet. In exchange, you won't ask for it back no matter what value it gains later. That's only fair."
Yun Chae-rin couldn't immediately refute him.
Everything he said was right.
Moreover, the <Spirit Vein Bracelet> was an artifact whose curse Taeseong had failed to break despite spending considerable sums over many years.
In the end, it had been ruled unusable and sealed away in storage.
The transfer itself had already been approved.
However, a clause completely relinquishing rights to any future value was not something Yun Chae-rin could decide on her own.
"I'll have to check that clause."
"Check it."
Yun Chae-rin picked up her phone and sent a short message.
Not long after, the phone buzzed briefly.
After checking the reply, she took a tablet out of her bag.
"It's approved."
Yun Chae-rin opened the draft agreement and added the terms they had just settled.
A moment later, the revised document appeared on the screen.
[Confidential Agreement on Dissolution of Engagement]
[Public reason: Mutual agreement due to personality differences]
[Internal reason: Circumstances attributable to Yun Chae-rin]
[Compensation: Transfer of artifact <Spirit Vein Bracelet> in kind]
[All responsibility for use arising after transfer belongs to Kim Sang-hyeok]
[Ownership and disposal rights to the <Spirit Vein Bracelet> are vested in Kim Sang-hyeok]
[Return cannot be demanded regardless of any change in the <Spirit Vein Bracelet>'s condition or value]
[Private information confirmed during the agreement process will not be disclosed externally]
Sang-hyeok checked the agreement from beginning to end to make sure everything he had requested was included.
After finishing his check, Sang-hyeok immediately picked up the electronic pen and wrote his name on the signature line.
Scratch.
[Kim Sang-hyeok]
Sang-hyeok pushed the tablet toward Yun Chae-rin.
But Yun Chae-rin did not pick up the pen right away.
She looked back and forth between Sang-hyeok's signature and the engagement ring sitting between the two of them.
She had arranged today's meeting to find out why Sang-hyeok had changed.
She had intended to confirm what Trait he had awakened and how far he had been involved in repairing the Ilseong equipment.
If Sang-hyeok still had feelings for her, she could have used their engagement to keep him close and observe him.
But in the end, the only thing she had learned was the single fact that Sang-hyeok had awakened.
Instead, her relationship with Kang Tae-o had been exposed, she'd been told the engagement was off, and now she was about to hand over the <Spirit Vein Bracelet> as compensation.
Yun Chae-rin's gaze lingered on the compensation item in the agreement.
She still couldn't understand why he was so insistent on a cursed failure.
"Sang-hyeok."
She lifted her eyes from the agreement and looked at him.
"Do you really intend to use the Spirit Vein Bracelet yourself?"
"If I didn't intend to use it, I wouldn't have asked for it."
"If you wear it without breaking the curse, it will drain all your mana. Taeseong had several mana-depletion accidents too."
Sang-hyeok looked into her eyes.
"That's no longer something for you to worry about, Chae-rin."
Yun Chae-rin's lips pressed firmly shut.
After watching Sang-hyeok for a moment, she lowered her gaze to the agreement and picked up the electronic pen.
The pen tip paused above the signature line for a moment.
Scratch.
[Yun Chae-rin]
As soon as the final signature was entered, a completion notice appeared on the screen.
[The confidential agreement has been signed.]
[The agreement is being sent to both families' legal representatives.]
[Initiating ownership transfer procedure for the artifact <Spirit Vein Bracelet>.]
The dissolution of the engagement and the transfer of compensation were confirmed at the same time.
Sang-hyeok rose from his seat.
"Send the Spirit Vein Bracelet by the end of today."
"It will arrive by the end of today."
"Then that's settled."
Sang-hyeok left the engagement ring where it lay on the table and turned away.
The untouched food on the table was cooling as well.
He opened the door without lingering attachment and left the room.
Click.
Even after the door closed, Yun Chae-rin couldn't take her eyes off the direction Sang-hyeok had gone.
Sang-hyeok had never once looked back, not even at the very end.
Until now, it had always been Sang-hyeok who contacted her first and waited.
Even when Yun Chae-rin replied briefly or refused to meet because she was busy, Sang-hyeok contacted her again without showing any hurt.
So she had believed his feelings would never change.
Even when she had been the one to suggest eating together at the testing ground and said today that she would try to make the relationship work, she hadn't expected to be rejected.
But the moment Sang-hyeok set down the engagement ring first and told her the engagement was off, that certainty shattered.
Yun Chae-rin's gaze dropped to her left hand.
The engagement ring was still on her finger.
She rested her hand over the ring for a while, then slowly pulled it off.
Clink.
The two engagement rings lay side by side.
Sang-hyeok had already removed his ring during the conversation, but Yun Chae-rin only took off hers after every procedure was finished and he had left.
She had thought she would obviously be the one to end this relationship.
At least, until she met Sang-hyeok today.
The finger she had pulled the ring from felt unfamiliar.
Buzz.
The phone on the table vibrated.
[Kang Tae-o: Hand over the Spirit Vein Bracelet.]
[Kang Tae-o: Instead, track all of Kim Sang-hyeok's movements after his awakening.]
As she read the order to investigate Sang-hyeok, the clause that had just been added to the agreement came to mind.
Yun Chae-rin opened the agreement instead of replying.
[Return cannot be demanded regardless of any change in the <Spirit Vein Bracelet>'s condition or value.]
Yun Chae-rin slowly read the sentence again.
The <Spirit Vein Bracelet> was an object Taeseong had ruled unusable after failing to break its curse for years.
It was something even Taeseong had given up on, yet Sang-hyeok was already looking ahead to the possibility that it might gain value later.
Then she remembered Sang-hyeok's face when he had evaded her question.
'Could he really be able to break the curse?'
Yun Chae-rin closed the agreement and returned to Kang Tae-o's message.
[Please extend the scope of the investigation back to before the Ilseong verification.]
* * *
A notification arrived on Sang-hyeok's phone as he left the hotel.
[Item: <Spirit Vein Bracelet>]
[Ownership transfer complete.]
[Beginning secure transport.]
Sang-hyeok checked the screen, then put his phone in his pocket.
The Heroic-grade artifact Taeseong had written off was now his.
That evening.
A delivery worker set a black metal case down on Sang-hyeok's desk.
Thud.
The top panel bore Taeseong Group's secure transport mark.
When Sang-hyeok placed his hand on the receipt device the worker held out, a short confirmation tone sounded.
Beep.
[Recipient biometrics match]
[Ownership transfer confirmed]
The delivery worker left the case behind and exited the room.
Once the door closed, Sang-hyeok placed his hand on the lock.
Click.
All four locks released at once.
Sang-hyeok slowly lifted the lid.
On the black cushioning lay a single silver bracelet.
It was a round band sized to fit around a wrist.
Dark-red stains clung to the silver surface here and there, like dried blood.
A Taeseong sealing record was affixed inside the case.
[Curse-breaking attempts: 19]
[Successes: 0]
[Mana-depletion accidents: 5]
[Final ruling: Unusable]
Even after mobilizing high-level purification-type players, the result had been the same.
The more power they poured into breaking the curse, the more mana the Spirit Vein Bracelet drained.
Only after five people lost consciousness did Taeseong halt all curse-breaking attempts.
And so the object no one had been able to touch for years now lay before Sang-hyeok's eyes.
As Sang-hyeok brought his hand closer, the dark-red stains writhed faintly.
Before touching the bracelet, Sang-hyeok checked the item information.
[Item Information]
[Name] <Spirit Vein Bracelet>
[Grade] Heroic
[Classification] Mana Recovery Support Artifact
[Equip Restriction] Lv.1 or higher
[Status] Powerful curse
[Curse effect] Continuously absorbs the wearer's mana.
[Original effect] Sealed by the curse.
[Warning] Wearing it may result in the loss of all mana.
Before the regression, the curse-broken <Spirit Vein Bracelet> had revealed outstanding mana recovery ability.
That power would still be inside the Spirit Vein Bracelet even now.
What Sang-hyeok needed to examine was the curse suppressing its original function.
Sang-hyeok set the <Spirit Vein Bracelet> on the desk.
'<Demonic Dragon’s Eye>.'
Heat bloomed behind Sang-hyeok's eyes.
The colors in the room dimmed, and only the dark-red energy covering the <Spirit Vein Bracelet> remained distinct.
That energy clung to the entire band, pressing down on the silver surface.
Through the gaps, a faint blue light barely leaked out.
When Sang-hyeok focused his gaze on the dark-red energy, a short phrase surfaced.
[Curse dwelling in the Spirit Vein Bracelet]
[Absorbs the target's mana and suppresses its original function.]
'So that's it.'
What Sang-hyeok was aiming at was the single curse on the <Spirit Vein Bracelet> that Taeseong had failed to break for years.
Sang-hyeok raised his right hand.
He didn't need a curse-breaking method.
He simply had to erase the curse itself entirely.
'<Erasure>.'
VMMMM!
Black energy gathered above his palm.
As if reacting to that power, the <Spirit Vein Bracelet> trembled faintly.
WHOOOOM!
The curse covering the band writhed and swelled greatly.
The dark-red energy clumped together in layers, wrapping the <Spirit Vein Bracelet> even more thickly.
Sang-hyeok placed his palm over the <Spirit Vein Bracelet> without hesitation.
Hsssss!
From the spot where his palm touched, the dark-red energy began burning away black.
As a palm-sized patch scattered like smoke, the silver surface beneath was revealed.
The black energy spread rapidly along the exposed surface into the surrounding stains.
「The curse is being extinguished by an unidentified method.」
The <Spirit Vein Bracelet> shook violently.
The remaining curse surged toward the inside of the band, holding out to the very end.
But Sang-hyeok pressed his palm down harder and pushed mana into <Erasure>.
Hsssss!
The black energy spread across the entire band.
The dark-red stains shrank rapidly, until only a single speck remained.
FSSSSSH!
Even the last stain turned to black smoke and scattered into the air.
Once the dark-red energy had completely cleared, the silver band hidden beneath it came into view.
The blue light that had barely leaked from inside the band also brightened rapidly.
FLASH!
At last, blue light burst out between Sang-hyeok's fingers and filled the room.
The <Spirit Vein Bracelet>, which had been shaking violently, grew still, and the presence of the curse that had covered the band vanished completely.
A moment later, a new notification appeared.
「The curse dwelling in the <Spirit Vein Bracelet> has been completely extinguished.」
「No curse remains to be broken.」
「The sealed original function is being unlocked.」
[Status is changing.]
[Powerful curse → Normal]