Cursed Heart

An office in Yongsan. A neat-looking man, deep in his paperwork, lifted his head a fraction. On the badge at his chest, a name: Section Chief, Park Dan.

"...A Snow Wood Monster?"

At Park Dan's question, the man perched across from him nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"That's hardly anything."

"Ordinarily, no."

"Ordinarily...?"

Park Dan's brow creased.

"I don't care for Zen riddles. So say it straight, Investigation Team Leader Hwang Chan-seung. What did you see that has you making a fuss like this?"

The man with a torso thick as rock—Hwang Chan-seung—grinned.

"I saw a monster."

"Since when is a Snow Wood Monster a monster? It's a common rock-plant."

"An undead Snow Wood Monster. The trunk alone ran thirty meters."

"What are you—"

The words died in Park Dan's throat.

"A tree, undead? And do you even know what a trunk is? Not the branches. Not the roots. The trunk alone, thirty meters?"

"That's what the survey turned up. Measuring the length by itself took ages."

"And what was a thing like that doing in the Crystal Cave?"

"Gorging on mana. Mana that had pooled for a long time along the upper cliff seems to have spilled into the dead thing by chance."

"...Good God."

Park Dan shoved aside the documents he'd been working through and held out a hand. He took the pad from Hwang Chan-seung and looked at the photos.

"There's a plant this insane? It swallowed the entire inside of the cliff?"

"Yes, sir."

"You were right. This bastard really is a monster."

Hwang Chan-seung shook his head.

"The monster I meant wasn't this one."

"Then what? There's another plant like it?"

"No. Not a plant. A person."

"...Hm?"

Park Dan's fingers flicked across the screen. His gaze stopped. Empty air—the place where hundreds of roots had come to a halt. The photograph showed nothing there. Originally, there would have been a person.

"...A mage?"

"Yes, sir."

The next page. Enormous claw marks gouged into the gigantic trunk.

"Form Transformation."

"Of a considerable level."

"But it's only the forepaws. The true core of Form Transformation is—"

"It was his fourth entry."

Park Dan's eyes narrowed. What the hell kind of nonsense was this. He tipped his chin, a silent demand to explain.

"His fourth entry into the Labyrinth. There's a sharp one in Intelligence—Lee Hee-yeon. He tripped her radar. He completed Form Transformation on exactly his fourth entry."

"That's absurd."

"I thought so too. But a fact is a fact."

"If that's a fact, I'll resign my—"

Park Dan's gaze stopped on the last page.

The emergency passage, used only in a crisis. The points automatically deducted for passing through it came to a staggering 3,150. Which meant this man had earned thirty thousand points inside the Labyrinth. And beneath that, a message written clear as day.

"This is insane..."

Park Dan set the pad down with a trembling hand. The words wouldn't come. A mage who had achieved—only in part, granted—the highest tier of Form Transformation after four entries into the Labyrinth. Had a case like this ever existed even once in Korea?

"The report never leaked outside. The only ones who know are myself, who went to the scene in person after the rescue request; Agent Lee Hee-yeon, who assessed the situation in secret and destroyed the records; and you, Chief."

Park Dan clutched his head.

"Then why tell me? I'm already so buried in work my head's about to split."

"...Oh dear. You weren't aware?"

Watching his suffering superior, Hwang Chan-seung grinned.

"Work, as a rule, piles onto the people who are good at it."

Right after I killed the Snow Wood Monster, I lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes, I was in a hospital intensive care unit. Not a hospital in the real world. A treatment facility the state had built inside the Tower, paying a fortune in points.

Waking up was its own ordeal. There were no physical injuries. The mind was another matter. A headache clamped my skull every time blood passed through. Tinnitus and phantom voices rang at my ears in intervals. And drifting in front of my eyes was the dead Lee Hee-ja.

Right. Of all the rotten luck, it had to be Lee Hee-ja. I would rather have seen Mom and Dad.

"You're fortunate."

Yes. Fortunate. After two days the symptoms vanished, and the wire drawn taut through my mind loosened, somewhat.

"Medically, we call that wire mental tensile force. Awakened tend to call it the spirit thread."

The middle-aged man in a doctor's coat smiled gently.

"There was almost no external trauma, but internally you were in a very serious state. Frankly, I thought you might not recover... and yet your mental strength was astonishingly resilient."

...Had it been that bad. Hearing it from the attending physician himself, I felt it anew—just how great a crisis I had come through.

"On occasion, Awakened who shut out physical exertion almost entirely and devote themselves only to mental cultivation display this kind of abnormal mental capacity..."

...Mm. It was as if I were hearing it only now. The origin of this mental strength they called abnormally powerful. So eight years of forced mental cultivation had actually done something.

"...In any case, you seem sufficiently recovered."

"Then visits are allowed now?"

"Yes. Those waiting to see you..."

The doctor pushed his glasses up and narrowed his eyes. Then the corner of his mouth lifted, just slightly.

"You're rather popular. Quite a few people hoping to visit."

A short while later, the first visitors came in. Lee Joo-ha, master of Altheon Workshop. Lee Chan, guard team leader from Shield. The moment they saw me, both of them rushed over in a fluster.

"A-are you all right?"

"We were worried sick, Mage!"

Both of them looked completely wrecked. Potions hadn't finished the job; they were covered in wounds. The cuts and punctures, as if from blades, made me feel it all over again. The whole time I was up above, finishing the spell along a thread of mana, how desperately they must have kept fighting down below.

"You've been through a lot."

I heard the situation of that day, piece by piece. Everyone had strained with everything they had, trying to hold out until the magic was complete. Fortunately, the operation succeeded. There were wounded. There were no dead. For having walked into the worst possible situation, it was a mercy.

"By the way, how did you bring that thing down?"

Team Leader Lee Chan's eyes sparkled as he asked.

"You didn't see it?"

"...Ah. No. The fight below was so fierce, and the flames were so intense we couldn't even lift our heads."

"I-I didn't see it either... haha."

Lee Joo-ha scratched his head and stole glances at me. He clearly wanted to hear it badly. I didn't go as far as Form Transformation. I brushed it off, saying I'd simply crushed the thing with overwhelming firepower. The light in both their eyes suggested that alone was enough.

"...This is a token of our sincerity, for saving our lives."

I opened the small bag Workshop Master Lee Joo-ha held out. The interior was packed with shock-absorbing lining, and nestled inside was a single ring set with a small cube-cut gem. I laid a hand over it.

Lee Joo-ha spoke.

"A ring made by working a gem found where the Gigantic Snow Wood Monster died. We didn't have it appraised, but given the thing's size, we believe it should be equipment of a considerable grade."

"...Thank you. I'll put it to good use."

After that we talked lightly. The two of them also offered compensation in the real world, but I refused. Fame out there was premature—something to consider only after I'd grown enough strength to protect myself. The conversation flowed pleasantly the whole way. In a sense, I was the one who had drawn the Snow Wood Monster in. No one brought it up. They quietly left the hospital room.

Knock, knock, knock.

The next visitor was Administrative Officer Lee Hee-yeon. She offered her thanks first.

"Thank you for saving us."

The withdrawal, the transport, even the treatment. I'd heard that Lee Hee-yeon, who happened to be on duty, had taken responsibility for all of it. Unexpectedly, she didn't seem to make much of that.

"Rescuing Awakened who run into trouble in the Labyrinth is only what's expected. That said..."

Lee ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hee-yeon smiled softly.

"I saw the marks raked across the Snow Wood Monster. To be honest, I never imagined you were at this level."

"I was lucky."

"Luck? Don't be ridiculous. There are only a handful of mages in Korea who can produce firepower that tremendous. And to perfectly control flames intense enough to melt an entire cavern wall... frankly, I can't even imagine it."

...That. Truthfully, I hadn't been able to imagine it either. Still, I'd managed it somehow, and that was enough to be glad of.

Lee Hee-yeon went on.

"The reason I came today is to report that I additionally informed two people of the Transcendent's information."

"......"

"I judged and acted on my own without permission. I apologize."

Two people from the Investigation Division had learned about me. It looked unavoidable. In an emergency, there was nothing wrong with the responders learning who the victim was.

"Thank you, truly, for looking out for me. I'll be going now."

After the farewells, I returned to reality. The motel ceiling was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. Only then did it truly sink in.

...That I had come back alive.

I spent a full day lying down and resting. I could barely move as it was. Wandering around with my condition at rock bottom was out of the question. Flat on my back, I gathered what information I could. For one thing, the fire at the Chuncheon house hadn't made the media at all.

As expected. A paralyzed man locked away for eight straight years awakening and escaping was not an easy thing to picture. Write it as a novel and the readers would tear you apart.

I raised a hand and checked the ring.

The performance looked plenty good. Setting everything else aside, just cutting the drain on mental strength was satisfying. Equipment tied to the mind was as rare as stars in the sky. For a mage, it was an option you wouldn't trade for anything.

"Still... it's quieter than I expected."

Part of the Crystal Cave had collapsed outright. I'd thought the communities would be in an uproar, but they were unexpectedly still. A few people complaining of the inconvenience were making a concentrated fuss, and even that passed without much response and sank out of sight.

Why. Lee Hee-yeon's face came to mind unbidden.

Maybe they pulled some strings over there.

Some hunters worked hard to get famous. I wasn't one of them, and Lee Hee-yeon knew that well. She'd said she would control the information as far as she could, and it seemed to be working. Maybe she was more capable than I'd thought.

I took a medicinal pellet and kept digging through the information until my eyes closed. Whether from the mental fatigue, a full day passed in an instant.

The next morning I drove across Seongsan Bridge. Perhaps because I'd just come out of a fight for my life, mere driving didn't register as tension. They say that the longer you live as an Awakened, the higher your threshold for excitement climbs, until reality ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turns dull. Maybe this was that.

Knock, knock.

I parked and went into the office. Inside, a little dim as usual, Yu Ji-seong and Yu Seo-ha shot up from their seats.

"You're here...!!"

"You've had a hard time."

An office where information mattered above all else. They already seemed to know what had happened. I sat and gave a brief account of it. Yu Seo-ha nodded.

"S-so, putting it all together, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you took down some colossal undead ancient monster of a mineral plant?"

A slightly bizarre summary, but not wrong. I nodded and turned my head. In the seat beside the old man with the calm face, a young man caught my eye—flustered by the strange manner of conversation, a body moved on mana threads, mana scattered through the air like water.

A wan face. A splint on his arm. Even the fine wounds etched into his skin.

"Y-yes? Yes, yes! Mage, I'm Choi Geon-woo. Thank you so much for saving ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my life."

He'd been kept isolated in a separate space and then rescued, hadn't he. Administrative Officer Lee Hee-yeon had guessed he'd been left behind as a kind of emergency ration. Well. Rations or a snack, that wasn't what mattered. Only that he had come back alive.

I knew better than anyone the frustration and despair of being confined. Still, it was a relief. That he could find his way back to an ordinary life, somehow. He could. So could I.

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my son."

Old Man Choi bent deeply at the waist. He set one shabby crossbody bag on the table. The zipper rasped open, and the contents showed. A familiar yellow, crammed with crumpled fifty-thousand-won bills. The old man closed the zipper and offered the bag respectfully with both hands.

"This is my entire fortune. It may be a trifling sum to you, Mage, but I still wish to repay the grace of saving my child. Please accept it."

What does a person feel toward the one who pulled their child back from a death already decided. I couldn't presume to know. But watching the tears run along the wrinkles at the old man's eyes, I could guess, somewhat. I didn't refuse.

He would be all right. He would settle the debt in his heart with this money, and with his son as a support, he would be able to walk forward.

"And this is the item I promised you."

The next object came out from under the table. A tightly sealed transparent plastic bag. Inside it, a jet-black heart, twitching and leaping.

It was the Cursed Heart.