Open, Status Window

I opened my eyes slowly.

The moon hung between the branches overhead.

I was sprawled on a forest floor.

"Where… are we?"

"I just woke up myself."

Ipda looked around carefully.

"This is Luneah Forest."

"Luneah?"

"I used to come here to play when I was little."

A forest the princess had once visited for fun.

"You snuck out this far?"

"Yes."

"And no one caught you?"

"The surveillance wasn't as tight back then as it is now."

Something about that stuck with me.

The cold smell of earth. Wet grass. The drone of insects. And in my hand, a hand so cold it barely seemed real.

Silver hair in disarray. A smear of red blood at the corner of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her lips. And still, Ipda wouldn't let go of my hand.

My heart was racing for no good reason. Of all the first times to hold a girl's hand after arriving in another world, I never expected it to be like this.

A princess and a man alone in a forest at night. It was the kind of setup that could start something. The problem was that she was bleeding, and I was fairly sure at least one of my ribs was broken.

"Nnh…"

Ipda's lashes trembled. I tried to sit up on reflex and immediately clenched my teeth. My ribs screamed. My right arm still didn't feel like it belonged to me.

"Your Highness."

I kept my voice low.

"Princess Ipda. Can you hear me?"

No answer. Her fingers only tightened a little more around mine — so weakly that if I let go, she might simply vanish.

In that moment, violet characters rose from within her chest.

All I had stripped away was the frailty layered over the top. The real curse was still there.

I set my fingers against her wrist. Her pulse was weak. What I could see on the surface wasn't enough. I needed to know how far the curse had spread — whether she was in immediate danger.

If I could just see her condition in detail.

Status. Window.

On the first day, I'd shouted myself hoarse and nothing had appeared. But Stop had worked as a character. So had Release. Then this should too.

I lifted my fingertips and drew two characters in midair.

Nothing happened even after the final stroke.

"…Did I get that right?"

Maybe I'd botched a stroke. I was still tracing the characters in my memory when a faint blue light bloomed.

There. I could manage at least this much.

The light wavered, failed to reach Ipda, and hung suspended in the air.

"So I have to designate a target too."

I leaned toward Ipda.

"Just a moment."

"What are you trying to do?"

"I want to check your condition, Your Highness."

The curse was floating near her chest. I raised my fingertips, then hesitated.

A forest at night. A fallen princess. A man leaning over her. Anyone who saw this would go for my throat before I could explain.

"I won't actually touch you."

Ipda looked at my fingertips, then gave a small nod.

"All ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠right. I trust you."

That only made my hand freeze up harder. I cleared my throat and designated the target.

"Ipda."

Blue light swept over her body once. Dozens of lines of text unfolded in the air.

"Holy hell."

It actually opened. The Status Window that had refused to appear no matter how many times I called for it on the first day — opened by characters I wrote myself.

But the first thing that hit me was Ipda's condition.

Mana seventy-one. High — absurdly high. And yet her body was this fragile. It wasn't that she lacked power. The power she had simply couldn't circulate properly.

The curse was still there too. All I'd erased was a single outer shell.

"Damn it…"

Then a thought struck me. Would it work on me too?

I started to shift, then stopped. Ipda's hand was still in mine. Without letting go, I wrote the characters in the air with my other hand.

Status Window.

"Target. Han Seok-beom."

Blue characters poured out over the night air.

"…Zero?"

A complete zero. Nothing before it, nothing after it.

"No, wait."

If I had no mana, then what the hell had I been using this whole time? Had I not been casting magic at all?

Rayan's fire. The barrier at the Academy Duel Ground. Ipda's curse. None of it had been my mana. Every time, some other mana had already been flowing. I hadn't created mana — I'd layered commands onto mana that was already there.

That was why the spells moved even with mana at zero.

Designer.

Not a mage. Not a hero. A Designer. And "Administrator Authority: Unapproved" — I'd seen those same words on the metal plate in the laboratory. It looked like it meant I still hadn't been granted permission.

There was no time to think it through. Ipda's hand was growing colder.

"Your Highness."

Her eyelids lifted slowly.

"Please call me Ipda."

"Starting now?"

"Yes."

Her voice was weak, but her eyes were serious. I let out a short breath.

"Ipda. Let's get you recovered first."

"All right."

I'd only said her name, and a faint smile touched the corner of her mouth. I looked away toward the Status Window for no particular reason.

Curse in progress. Mana circulation impaired. Stamina critical.

Lifting the curse was out of the question. Prod it the wrong way and it might dig in even deeper.

"I'm not going to remove the curse."

"Then what are you planning to do?"

"I'll try to get just enough circulating that you can move."

I wrote characters across the back of her hand.

Restore to the original state. If I restored everything, even the frailty I'd stripped away might come back. So only what was needed. Don't spread through the whole body. Don't touch the curse. Just breath and legs.

The characters glowed faintly. But my mana was zero. Nothing flowed.

I looked at Ipda.

"May I use a little of your mana?"

"My mana?"

"Yes. If you'd rather not, I'll find another way."

"Use it."

I was the one who hesitated.

"Are you sure?"

"You're Han Seok-beom."

I really wished she wouldn't say things like that. My hand started trembling again.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

A small current stirred inside her body. Mana seventy-one — power that had pooled there, blocked by the curse, unable to circulate properly. I drew a thin path alongside it.

Light climbed from her wrist toward her chest, then veered toward the violet curse.

"Ngh…"

Ipda's body flinched. I cut off Recovery at once.

"I'm sorry."

"It's all right."

"We'll rest a moment, then try again."

I narrowed the range further. Breath. Legs. Do not touch the curse.

When I reconnected it, blue light flowed past the curse — through her chest, down to her waist and legs. A thin side path. Even a little wider and it would collide with the curse, so I couldn't ease the tension in my fingertips for a second.

Ipda drew a slow breath. Deeper than before. A faint light returned to her eyes.

"My body… feels a little lighter."

The bright smile on her face was almost painfully lovely.

"That's a relief."

Ipda looked down at my fingertips.

"They're warm."

"Mine are?"

"Yes."

Her cold fingers adjusted their grip on my hand slightly. It was nothing, and somehow my palm still went hot. I turned my head.

"My turn now."

"You too, Seok-beom?"

"My ribs have been killing me this whole time."

I wrote the same characters across the back of my own hand.

"I'll borrow a little more, just for a moment."

"You have my permission."

Warm mana entered my body. The numbness in my wrist eased, and strength returned to my legs. Breathing deeply still hurt, but at least I could move.

Grrroowl.

A short silence settled over us.

"…That was my stomach."

Ipda laughed quietly.

Grrroowl.

That one was hers. Ipda stared off into the far side of the forest with a perfectly straight face. Only the tips of her ears had gone a little red.

"You haven't eaten anything, have you?"

"No."

"Neither have I."

This time we both laughed. I planted a hand and pushed myself slowly to my feet.

"Let's find something."

"Can we even find food out here?"

"If not, we tough it out until morning."

Rustle.

Something burst ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out of the underbrush. It looked like a rabbit. It was about the size of a rabbit, too. Except it had a horn on its forehead, and it was drooling with its front teeth bared.

"A horned rabbit."

Ipda was the first to push herself up.

"They usually run when they see people, but…"

The thing scraped the ground with its forepaws. The moment it lowered its head, the tip of the horn pointed straight at us.

Ipda yanked on my hand.

"Get out of the way!"

The horned rabbit launched. I shoved Ipda aside and rolled. My ribs shrieked. The creature slammed into the tree root where I'd been standing.

Thud!

Bark exploded in every direction. That was not the kind of damage a small body should leave.

Ipda caught her breath.

"I've never seen one attack first like that."

Was it after Ipda, with all that mana? Thinking could wait. The horned rabbit lowered its body again. Ipda staggered and caught my arm — and through the contact of our fingertips, familiar mana flowed in.

I layered a character over that current.

Bang!

The creature hit the barrier and bounced back. Ipda raised her hand. A small light gathered at her fingertips and lifted several sharp blades of grass, which wound around the horned rabbit's legs. It tumbled across the ground.

I grabbed a thick branch nearby. The moment my empty stomach saw the thing, it reacted first. Magic or no magic — that was meat.

"Can you hold it?"

Ipda looked at the branch in my hand.

"I'll keep it bound."

Instead of answering, I wrote a character on the branch.

A small spark caught. Ipda laid her fingertips over it.

"I'll add my mana."

"How do we time it?"

"Throw it when I give the signal."

Golden script flared at her fingertips.

"Now!"

I hurled the burning branch with everything I had. In an instant the small spark swelled as if drinking in Ipda's mana. A great pillar of fire tore through the night air.

Fwoooosh!