Fate’s Flip: Good or Bad?
The night was one of deep silence, the moon hanging low in the sky.
Seong Yura stood quietly, gazing up at the vast expanse of stars.
The faint silver light of the moon, together with the candle flame burning on the desk, cast a gentle glow that barely pierced the shadows of the dimly lit study.
She poured a crimson wine into the empty glass that had been stroked by the moonlight, then brought it to her lips and took a slow sip.
After savoring the bitter, dry taste of the wine, she spoke with a lazy smile.
“……The path of the pilgrimage to Yukseong Mountain. Hmm. How interesting.”
A faint smile curved her lips.
“Should I call this stubborn, or should I call it foolish?”
She had tormented Loxanne countless times, yet here she was, quietly enduring what she must have known would be the trials she needed to overcome.
Even though those around her turned their backs and betrayed her, spitting in her face, she remained majestic and solitary as she offered prayers to the gods.
She who clung to the ancient teachings of the church, who suffered in the mountains and climbed toward heaven to pray, was truly the picture of foolishness.
Loxanne… Do you truly believe the gods exist?
Do you think that if you step through countless temptations, despair, and hardships, and offer prayers to them, salvation will one day arrive?
How utterly ridiculous.
Truly, ridiculously so.
If the gods truly exist, why is this world so tainted?
With countless evils ruling and monstrous beings crushing human flesh and bone beneath their feet, how pitiful and grotesque it is that she should offer prayers to them.
If the gods truly exist, the one who should have stood before the Judgment should have been Seong Yura, who wielded the name of evil and the power of darkness.
Yet why is the sky so indifferent?
How many crimes she had committed, how many times she had trampled the prophets’ teachings in the dirt, how she had mocked them.
Yet she who received the faint light of divine favor and bore the most noble heart was the one being trampled.
And yet the one who should have been judged, Seong Yura, was being honored by countless believers as a saintess candidate.
Truly, all that came out of her mouth was laughter.
And so.
“Mateo.”
She cast her gaze toward the darkness and called out the name of a man.
“Go and do it once.”
In the dark corner where the moonlight barely reached, a man stood rigidly at attention.
“……”
Mateo Evans. An assassin who had once been a professional hitman.
A dual-dagger wielder who was famous for killing his targets without a sound and slipping away unnoticed.
In some circles he was feared by the name of “The Dark Moon.”
Notable heroes, brilliant supernatural ability users, seasoned soldiers—many had lost their lives to his blades.
He was a remarkable assassin, and once he locked onto a target, he killed without regard for means or method.
But several years ago he had been brutally defeated by the one called the Vigilante and had come within inches of death.
He had limped through the streets after suffering serious injuries and, by chance, had been taken in by Seong Yura.
His wounds had been healed to a certain degree, and he now served her faithfully.
“Bring me a few usable men.”
Loxanne, you foolish woman.
You sensed that someone was watching you, yet you still wanted to endure this pilgrimage to uphold the teachings?
That straight path of yours, that unwavering faith of yours, was burying everyone around you in sticky mud.
“Now there’s no need to hide it. Let’s be openly cruel.”
“Understood.”
“Yura, don’t touch her. Target the escort unit.”
“Kill them?”
“Hmm. I wonder.”
Seong Yura shook her head side to side.
“Wounding her has been more than enough so far… but simply harassing her has become boring… to pull out Loxanne’s dramatic reaction…”
She smiled faintly.
“After all, it’s better to kill someone right in front of Loxanne, isn’t it?”
Loxanne, I love you too much. I hate you too much.
I hate myself for never being able to become someone like you. I love you so much that I can’t take my eyes off the one in front of me.
That is why I want to break you with my own hands.
Slowly, so very slowly.
I want to shove your head into the muddy swamp where I live, and see just how long you can keep thrashing.
***
In a lush forest overflowing with verdant greenery.
“Haa, haa, hah…”
I panted heavily, intermittently, as I forged through the dense undergrowth, climbing the mountain again and again.
The tall trees rose like a tropical rainforest, thick enough to be brushed aside by a toothbrush, their lush leaves blocking the sunlight and creating a dim, almost eerie atmosphere.
It had been broad daylight, yet the place was so dark and gloomy that the hair on my arms stood on end.
“Haa… what kind of forest is this… it’s huge, really…”
I was deep in the forests of Yukseong Mountain in Chungnam.
A mountain that had never existed in my previous life’s Korea, and whose forests were so dense I might easily get lost.
If I hadn’t had a map, GPS, and a satellite phone, I wouldn’t have even considered trying to climb it.
The path had been cut off long ago; the deep forest felt like the maw of a beast—dangerous beyond belief.
“Wonder where I am now…”
I slowly retraced my memories from my previous life while scanning the map once more.
What I was looking for was a small cave located somewhere on Yukseong Mountain.
Inside that cave was probably the **Subspace Ring**.
In the game it had been used only for expanding inventory, but the game and reality were different.
In the setting, because you could open another space to store items, it could be used in countless ways.
That was why I had been struggling up the mountain despite all this suffering…
‘……But this forest… there are monsters here.’
Yes. This was a forest where monsters lived.
From cracks in reality, many monsters had emerged, and some had either been missed during extermination or had fled into forests where no one’s eyes could reach.
Korea had one of the world’s highest forest coverage rates, with seventy percent of its land mountainous, so monsters often went unnoticed.
In other words, some monsters were quietly hiding like wild animals on the verge of extinction.
And the cave I was looking for was the lair of a massive-horned black pig monster.
Of course it wasn’t an extremely powerful monster, and if I paid close attention I could hunt it alone.
There were a few others as well, but they weren’t particularly threatening.
The fact that I had come alone was proof that I wasn’t taking unnecessary risks.
Ah, of course I wasn’t being careless.
Even if there were few of them, I was entering a mountain where monsters lived. Would I be mad enough to let my guard down?
‘Even so, I’ve prepared thoroughly.’
I had brought an armful of supplies I could buy with the items Yu Seolhyeon had procured for me.
A giant monster crossbow, special arrows, magic scrolls, healing potions, a sword I had mined from Yongdangsan, tools necessary for hunting the black pig, and everything needed for the climb.
The heavy bag on my back made the physical toll heavy, but it was better than regretting not bringing them later.
‘Once I mine the Subspace Ring, I won’t have to carry all this junk anymore.’
Of course, if you wanted to bring a lot of tools, inventory was essential.
‘By the way, how far have I gone? Haa, my memory is fuzzy… should I keep going?’
Of course I didn’t remember the exact spot.
That was only natural—anyone with a memory wouldn’t remember every sub-quest location.
No matter how good my memory or how much of a game maniac I was, I wouldn’t recall the cave entrance for every single side quest.
I only remembered the general direction.
‘Well, that’s enough.’
That was because the giant-horned black pig monster had one special trait.
What trait?
It was extremely sensitive to the scent of female blood.
It could detect a woman’s scent from several kilometers away even if only a tiny amount of blood was used.
So I had decided to use that trait.
‘Good thing Yu Seolhyeon got me the blood pack without asking too many questions.’
By the way, blood-selling was illegal in Korea.
‘Anyway, once I use this blood pack to lure the monster into a trap, I can knock it out and trace its footprints to find the cave.’
If I played my cards right, it would be easy.
‘Well, today’s fortune seems pretty good.’
Before climbing the mountain I had half-jokingly checked my fortune.
Looking at the reading, today’s events would unfold smoothly without any unexpected twists, so if I had something I wanted to do, I should do it right away.
I never really believed in fortune-telling, but today I had a strange feeling that things would go well.
Why did this happen sometimes?
Once every few years I would have a day that was extraordinarily lucky.
I had thought today might be that day.
For some reason… I just had a good feeling.
The fortune had been good, and the feeling had been good all day, so I was walking forward thinking that things would turn out well.
I had already cut through the jungle and undergrowth with the sword I received from Yongdangsan. How much farther?
Then, from a distance, I heard the murmur of voices.
Why were people in this dangerous forest?
I took a cautious step forward.
As I moved carefully, I found a clearing beyond the bushes.
And in that clearing…
“Eh? What are those?”
It was a scene of people in strange outfits aiming their swords at a pair of man and woman, threatening them.
What kind of situation was this…?
The atmosphere suggested it wouldn’t end with words.
The way those men dressed was also suspicious, as if they were saying “I’m a really dangerous guy~.”
In other words, those people were villains. Actual villains.
‘What do I do now?’
To be honest, it had nothing to do with me.
If they were villains, it was genuinely dangerous, so the best course would have been to leave them alone.
But I was still a hero-in-training, and the thought crossed my mind that if I left them they would suffer terrible consequences.
I had plenty of gear for hunting monsters. If I did a silent sneak attack now, I might be able to win…
“Stop right there! Who are you!”
“Ah, wait, what?”
It was too sudden.
A man holding dual daggers stared at me with sharp eyes.
‘W-what? How did you know?’
Did you sense even my presence?
I had hidden myself so well… If you could still detect me, that means you’re stronger than I thought. Wait, is this really bad news?
‘Today’s fortune was… damn, really.’
I had said it was good fortune!
There was no way it was good—clearly something had gone wrong.
---
Luck check failed.
Current fortune: BAD
Next event: Hostile encounter initiated