Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Doesn’t everyone have at least one special experience in their life?
I do.
Three, in fact.
The first one.
When I was a kid, I got stabbed by a demonic sword.
It’s true.
It happened on my tenth birthday, and the scar is still clearly burned into my left side. So it’s not some delusion.
The one who stabbed me was none other than my biological father.
He had a record of minor crimes and even ran some kind of shady cult, but from what I remember, he wasn’t that bad to his family.
At least, not until everything went wrong.
The point where my life completely started to rot was when Awakeners with supernatural powers appeared and the Tower rose into the world.
That strange, fantasy-like structure is what ruined everything.
And this cursed item I have also came from the Tower.
After my father got his hands on that damn sword from somewhere, he stopped recognizing his own wife and children and turned into a complete psycho.
Yeah.
One memory I’ll never forget is my mother’s arm being cut off and thrown into a rice field.
And the other is my older brother and younger sibling going completely cold.
I was the only one lucky enough to survive, thanks to an old shaman in the village who pulled me out of a stream where I was drifting and somehow saved me.
The second special experience.
I’m mentally normal.
And by that, I don’t mean something boring like “I suffered trauma as a child but recovered.”
My father was a cult leader.
He went insane and stabbed me with a sword.
I have a permanent scar left from it.
But honestly, things like that can be accepted with a bit of distance, like, “Well, that kind of thing can happen.”
The real issue is what’s written in the status of this demonic sword, “Curse.”
Assuming the modern Akashic Records, the knowledge database known as Nemo Wiki, isn’t wrong, this item is labeled as “Cursed.”
Some cursed items are said to be so dangerous that equipping them is basically worse than death.
There are even ones that seal all your skills no matter your Awakener rank.
I’m not affected by either case.
I’ve lived with this cursed item for over ten years, and I’m completely fine.
Some cursed items are mild and only cause nausea or minor discomfort, but this one is different.
Item Status: <Curse>
Current curse effects: moral inversion, language disorder, bodily fluid reflux.
(Immune status)
This item can transform into any form of tool the user desires.
Just by looking at it, the description is packed with dangerous-sounding terms.
Name: Im Jin-hyeok
Rank: 3
HP: 60
Strength: 60
Endurance: 70
Mental Power: -
Agility: 60
<Trait> <Corruption Immunity> Rank: D
The user is immune to <Curse> status effects.
Skill list available.
Luckily, when I woke up at Shaman Sang-jin’s place, I had already awakened.
Well, that’s lucky, I guess.
The third experience.
The demonic sword, no.
The cursed item talks to me.
The first time it spoke was one year after I got stabbed.
When I heard a woman’s voice in an empty room, I thought my heart was going to explode.
A blue-haired, golden-eyed girl wearing a simple shirt over a flame-patterned scar.
This woman is the sword that once pierced my stomach.
Her name is Shati.
At first, I was uncomfortable.
Of course I was.
Who wouldn’t be uneasy if the sword that stabbed them suddenly appeared as a girl’s face and stared at them?
But the more I saw her behavior, the less scary she became.
When I sleep, she sits at the edge of my blanket.
And she doesn’t really ask for anything.
For something labeled as a cursed item, she doesn’t feel cursed at all.
One day, Shati hesitantly spoke.
(Family… death… because of me…)
“Forget it. What sin does a tool have?”
And that was it.
We just talked about random things like that and ended up living together like family for ten years.
Even though she’s a cursed item, she stays harmlessly by my side, and at some point the uneasy feeling disappeared completely.
To others, she’s neither seen nor heard. Only I can clearly see and talk to her, like a ghost girl, and now it’s just part of my daily life.
(Imja… today… sanity test…)
“Say the tongue twister. ‘Sea-salt factory factory boss is factory boss.’ Done?”
(Bae… full score…)
Shati says she used to be alone for a long time because her owners kept dying.
She likes that I can’t be corrupted thanks to my trait.
She’s a good kid.
(Imja… like…)
And pretty.
“Get ready. We’re moving.”
[System]
Do you want to transform Shati’s form?
You cannot copy forms heavier than twice the user’s body weight.
About 120 centimeters long, a thick black rod.
I gripped Shati tightly.
4th-grade Tower, Floor 24.
Over seven hours of farming inside the Tower.
This is my daily routine without a single break since I started climbing the Tower.
The Tower only opens on Wednesdays, so I basically cram a week’s worth of work into one day.
Thud.
With a heavy impact sound, a black-skinned goblin collapsed, bleeding.
[System]
Boss monster, Hobgoblin eliminated.
(Imja… I… like blade forms…)
“If you use it wrong, you’ll wreck your wrist.”
Shati can transform into any tool made by human intelligence.
I’ve never once seen her break.
“Got one.”
[System]
Experience gained: 8
Do you want to store item <Crude Bracelet> into the inventory?
Remaining capacity: 7/10
“Damn it, trash. First drop in six months and it’s this.”
<Crude Bracelet> Rank: F <Curse>
Current curse effect: HP increases by -3 and skills cannot be used.
HP increases by 4.
The reason I climb the Tower is simple.
I need to survive.
Shaman Sang-jin took care of me like a guardian for years, but he passed away suddenly.
I had to find a way to live quickly.
Besides, only Awakeners can enter the Tower.
I can’t just throw that away.
Even just clearing low-level Towers would be enough to survive.
And one more thing.
The one who threw Shati at my family was an Awakener.
The only 12th-grade top-tier Awakener in Korea.
“Black Fang.”
If I keep climbing, I’ll eventually meet that bastard face to face.
When that happens, I’ll at least ask why he gave something so dangerous.
But there’s a big problem.
He’s the highest-ranked Awakened who cleared top Towers, and I’m still just a 3rd-rank nobody.
So I came up with a plan.
Use my immunity to cursed items and rely on gear power to climb my way up to him.
I sat on top of the goblin corpse and opened my status window.
A translucent screen filled with text appeared.
What I was looking for in this stream of information was the news and community board built into it.
Search keyword: curse
Most of it was garbage, but—
Title: Breaking) Shit myself because of cursed item lol
Author: Overlord
I equipped a bracelet I got after yesterday’s Tower run without checking it and it turned out to be cursed lol
└ lol did you even appraise it properly?
└ you idiot… that’s impressive
There’s always something useful if you dig.
Title: Question) cursed item in 1st-grade Tower this year January
Title: My cursed life
Title: Please give me cursed RNG
⋮
Title: No clickbait) 4th-grade Awakener killed someone, likely cursed item usage
!
Maybe?
I quickly checked the related post.
Title: Please spread) mass casualty incident in A district
Author: Hera
Real name Kwon Ki-jeong.
An Awakener known as “Lighter” is causing casualties. Awakeners, please assist in locating him in District A.
Milky Way Guild.
(Comment disabled)
Search keyword: curse + 4th grade
└ He used barrier skills before but suddenly used something weird, probably cursed item
└ Saw the photos? His skin looked like it was melting like acid
└ I saw it in person, it smelled like burning
└ Heard he traded cursed items with foreign gangs lol
└ scam lol
(Death victim photo, former 7th-grade Awakener)
└ District A is locked down, Awakeners are coordinating but still can’t find him
└ Gates are exploding there, manpower shortage
└ Some gates already broke and monsters are spilling out
The posts kept flooding endlessly.
Looks like it’s real.
A cursed item user on the loose.
And I might be the first to track him down.
(Imja… higher rank… cursed items… maybe dangerous…)
I know.
A worm lives on pine needles, not oak leaves.
A 3rd-rank Awakener should stay in 3rd-grade Towers if he wants to survive.
I’m basically a nobody using Shati with no real attack skills, heading into a 4th-grade Tower.
But if there really is a cursed item that can melt higher-ranked Awakeners…
If I don’t move now, I’ll miss a high-grade cursed item.
Legally, cursed items must be reported and confiscated by the administration upon discovery.
“It’s fine. I’ve got you.”
(Hihi…)
<Shati, King of All Weapons>
Item Rank: S
<Curse>
Not an exaggeration.
Shati isn’t just a weapon.
If you mess up, it’s instant death.
Used properly, she’s ridiculously overpowered.
[Achievement]
Triggers when a 3rd-rank or higher Awakener possessing multiple A-grade cursed items is detected.
And if I’m lucky, I might figure out what this even means.
Let’s go.
Time to farm items.