The Mana Contract

"So… you want me to teach him how to fight?"

"Yes… I know it's shameless of me to ask, but please."

Han Bom came up to me with her request. What she wanted was simple enough — for me to coach Han Yeo-rum on how to actually fight.

There wasn't much difference in raw skill between someone who'd raised their archery through levels and someone who'd built it through years of experience. If they only ever soloed, the gap wouldn't show much at all.

The problem was team play.

Say you had two people with the same archery level of ten — their fighting styles would still diverge completely. Raising a skill through levels didn't upgrade your thinking along with it.

Sure, higher levels bought you more breathing room and made coordination easier, but that was a separate issue from Han Yeo-rum.

His levels were low and he was terrible at team play.

Han Bom's request was that, even if his level couldn't be helped, I should at least make him look like someone useful.

Because as it stood, he looked like he would end up as absolutely nothing, groveling around as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠someone else's lackey.

Well, with regression on his side, he wouldn't sink quite that far…

…Yeah, good question.

Han Bom had retained her memories after the regression and never once let it show. She'd even used that knowledge skillfully to get closer to me. And now, out of nowhere, she was asking me to help Han Yeo-rum.

Then again, if I leave that bastard as he is, he really will be a lost cause.

Han Yeo-rum was my target. I needed to keep him close. That was the only way to keep shattering his psyche.

I closed my eyes, turning it over, and Han Bom fidgeted before speaking up quietly.

"Please… my brother really is… he looks genuinely dangerous like this. I'll do anything I can to help, so…"

"Hmm… all right."

"!!"

Han Bom stared at me, startled. She clearly hadn't expected me to agree.

"When you ask like that, how could I turn you down?"

"Th-thank you!"

"But! There are conditions."

I pulled an item from my inventory and held it up for her to see.

"…What's that?"

"A mana contract."

My reason for pulling out the mana contract was simple. I needed Han Yeo-rum to actually listen to me during hunts.

No matter how many instructions I barked under the banner of "helping," I doubted he'd follow any of them willingly.

But the part that bothered Han Yeo-rum wasn't the content of the contract.

"…Why do you have one of these?"

"Hm? Bought it yesterday."

"…How?"

"Do I really need to explain that? Even that?"

"…"

He frowned at the mana contract in my hand and stared me down.

He probably knew exactly what it was, having used one in his previous life after meeting the Red Crescent.

However, he wouldn't be able to figure out the source of the contract I possessed.

I ignored his state and pressed on.

"Your condition is critical. I'll help you — but at minimum, there needs to be a clause that you listen to me during hunts."

"Don't give me that bullshit… You think I'd agree to that?"

Killing intent flooded his eyes as he glared at me.

Of course he wouldn't. He hadn't forgotten what happened to him back in the Waiting Village.

So I sweetened the deal with a few more conditions.

"Listening to me isn't forced like before."

"…?"

"We start with thirty thousand Points. As long as you follow my orders properly during the hunt, the whole sum is yours. But every time you half-ass an instruction, I dock a thousand."

Once the hunt started, I'd put up my own thirty thousand Points. Every act of defiance would cost him a thousand.

"And if you keep performing well, I'll raise the pot by ten thousand at a time."

"…Why are you doing it this way?"

For something that was essentially domestication, the terms were surprisingly generous. Even if Han Yeo-rum ignored every single word I said, he'd still break even.

The structure of this contract put the real loss on me — I was the one eating the hassle.

"I'm trying to make a man out of you. Got a problem with that?"

"…"

"But of course, there's a clause that you don't attack me — directly or indirectly. Same as before."

The Points must have hooked him, because he didn't push back. I delivered the finishing blow to his hesitation.

"And if you listen all the way through, I'll throw in whatever Points I earn that day as a bonus."

"…Fine."

He ground his teeth and accepted.

Han Yeo-rum… you really were that broke, huh. Jumping on thirty thousand Points like that.

I handed him the mana contract. He took it and started scrutinizing every ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠line for traps, face locked in a grim expression for a very long time.

I sighed watching him.

"It's a few lines. Why are you staring at it for over thirty minutes?"

"Shut up…"

Barely ten sentences, and he'd been studying them for more than half an hour. He was clearly worried I'd slipped in some loophole.

Only after another thirty minutes of staring did Han Yeo-rum finally sign the mana contract.

The terms were straightforward. During the hunt, I would teach Han Yeo-rum things that helped in combat. But if he complained or failed to carry out my instructions properly, a thousand Points came off. And the contract went into effect the moment he signed.

"Hey! I told you not to loiter out front! How is a ranged fighter supposed to do anything like that?!"

"Then what am I supposed to do?! There are already a few of them on the right! I'm about to get swarmed!"

"Did I leave the left side open so your daughter could play there?"

It was a perfect window into just how sloppy Han Yeo-rum's thinking was. When I barked orders, he mostly obeyed — the Points hanging over him saw to that. The problem was that a lifetime of self-centered living had left him completely incapable of adapting. He could take an instruction, but he had no idea how to use it.

"This fucking…"

"What the fuck — why?!"

"You swore. Isn't that obvious?"

"Grrrgh!"

Cursing was clearly a form of complaint. I had no reason to tolerate open insults. Leaving Han Yeo-rum to thrash away, I turned and gave Han Bom her own instructions.

"Han Bom, practice using your recovery skills from a distance."

"Ah! Yes!"

I didn't lift a single finger.

It was humiliation.

He had never been humiliated like this in his entire life.

Kindergarten. Elementary school. Middle school. High school. University. Through every one of those years, he had lived at the top — steering other people from a position of superiority.

Women had always thrown themselves at him, ready to do anything.

Men had seethed with envy and jealousy while still groveling for whatever scraps fell from his table.

No one had ever challenged him. No one had ever voiced a complaint.

In his entire life, there had been only one exception.

"Done!"

"Hah… hah… hah…!"

Han Yeo-rum collapsed onto the ground like a player who'd just finished a full ninety-minute match, gasping as if he might throw up. His breathing showed no sign of settling when Sung Su-ho's scolding voice cut through.

"Your stamina is pathetic…"

"Kah… hah… this fucking…"

"That was to myself!"

"So you think talking to yourself makes swearing okay?"

"…?"

Sung Su-ho suddenly shifted into a completely mismatched persona — hands clasped behind his back, snorting through his nose as he opened his mouth.

"Another thousand Points off."

"What?!"

"Just kidding~"

"Grrrrrrrrgh!"

Han Yeo-rum wanted nothing more than to drive a blade through that grinning face. But he was so exhausted he couldn't even spit on Sung Su-ho, let alone stand up and swing a sword.

I'll kill him… Just scrape together some Points, raise my skills a bit, and eventually I'll be able to hunt on my own…

When he'd first arrived in the village, all he'd wanted was to find some way to land a hit on the guy in a group duel. But even Han Yeo-rum was starting to face reality. The power this bastard held wasn't something you could surpass just by dumping Points into levels.

It's not just the Points. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I need to figure out every single ability this bastard has…

But with nothing but bad blood between them, asking nicely wasn't going to get him any answers.

As Han Yeo-rum lay there, spent, Han Bom held out a hand.

"You did well. Get up."

"Hah… ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hah… No. I'm gonna rest a bit first."

"Okay."

Han Yeo-rum breathed roughly, thinking to himself.

But those Red Summoners showed up last time — why aren't they appearing? Is it because I'm not alone? Damn it… If I want to meet them, I need to be by myself…

He decided to stay behind and wait for the Red Summoners he'd encountered before. Lying there, he watched Han Bom and Sung Su-ho. They were exchanging words, but their voices were too low to catch.

The dungeon… Something happened in that dungeon! I can't let them go in there…

Han Yeo-rum had concluded that Sung Su-ho had seduced his little sister with something indecent inside the dungeon. There was simply no other explanation that made sense. Before entering the dungeon, Han Bom hadn't shown a single sign of interest in Sung Su-ho. If anything, she'd been confident about ripping off his mask herself.

Han Bom walked back over to where he lay.

"Even if you're tired, you should rest at the inn."

"No. Hoo… I'll rest a bit and come later. You go first."

"Fine. We've already cleared everything around here anyway… Be careful…"

She was right — the surrounding mobs had all been wiped out. Sung Su-ho and Han Bom left, and Han Yeo-rum stayed on the ground, waiting for the Red Summoners to show.

"Damn it, everything's gone sideways!"

By the time Han Yeo-rum shouted his way back into the village, pitch-black darkness was there to greet him. The Red Summoners who should have approached him with a deal never appeared, and nothing about the dungeon had come up at all.

"Fuck… Where the hell did things go wrong…"

Muttering to himself, he headed for the inn. The moment he stepped inside, what caught his eye was the rest of the party listening to Yang Jihyeon's explanation.

Han Bom turned at the sound of the door and waved him over.

"Hey, get over here."

"I told you not to call me 'hey.'"

"Ugh… You trying to piss me off? Get over here already."

Cowled by Han Bom's intensity, Han Yeo-rum grumbled his way into an empty seat and asked her,

"Hey, what's going on? Why is everyone gathered?"

"We're planning a move to another village."

"Then we'll gather tomorrow morning and enter the dungeon."

"Yes."

In the original timeline, the gang would have started trouble sometime that morning, and around lunch Yang Jihyeon would have proposed exploring the dungeon. But this loop was different. The gang never picked a fight, and Han Bom had drawn up a contract with Sung Su-ho behind Han Yeo-rum's back.

Han Bom glanced at Sung Su-ho and thought to herself.

Ugh… It's because I acted differently, isn't it?

A seed of unease sprouted in one corner of her heart — but the knowledge that she still knew the future let the worry settle again. Even if things shifted a little, just knowing the dungeon was safe was enough to put her at ease.

And then there was Sung Su-ho's attitude.

Earlier, when Han Bom had left Han Yeo-rum behind and returned to the village with Sung Su-ho, she'd made him a proposal.

"I'll sign a mana contract too."

"Huh? No. You're already doing fine, Han Bom. Ah! Don't tell me you're after my Points?"

"I'm not that kind of person!"

"Hahaha."

"No matter how I look at it, I made a really annoying request. And you're the only one taking a loss here…"

What Han Bom had proposed was that she'd compensate him whenever Han Yeo-rum screwed up.

"But… come to think of it, Ajeossi has plenty of Points. What I can do for you is… ah!"

"…?"

"Every time that guy messes up, we bank one favor. Later I'll take meal duty or dishwashing duty or whatever."

"You really don't have to go that far…"

"Then it's settled!"

Han Bom had gotten a contract out of Sung Su-ho and forced his signature onto it. He was already a man she had feelings for. She was starting to get curious about what he'd do with that contract in hand.

…If he doesn't touch me at all, that might piss me off in its own way.

He'd put his hands on Min Ha-yeon, but not so much as a fingertip on her? Han Bom decided she'd rather be forced. He was already someone she liked. The anxiety around the idea of assault had washed clean, like dirt rinsed away in first-grade spring water.

She pouted, then checked on Han Yeo-rum. He was still glaring daggers at Sung Su-ho.

Idiot… Doesn't it occur to you that the more you do that, the harder he'll make it for you?

He looked pathetic.

But even as she found him pathetic, Han Bom understood him.

If I hadn't met Ajeossi… I'd probably be groveling under those pieces of trash myself, wouldn't I?

She once declared she would rather kill herself than become those bastards' plaything — but no one could know the future.

In the end, life was precious.

As gratitude toward him began to bloom, Min Ha-yeon drifted over to Sung Su-ho and started whispering something playful. Watching them, Han Bom felt guilt and jealousy and envy all tangled together, self-reproach seeping up through the cracks. But even that self-reproach couldn't stop her.

Just for a while… just until we get a little closer…

She walked over to Sung Suho and Min Ha-yeon, smiled, and opened her mouth.

"Late-night snack together?"