Status Window Observa?tion (1)
Status Window Observa?tion (1)
Most of the time, my eyelids refused to open.
It took a desperate struggle just to get them to lift a little, and even when they did, my eyes stung and throbbed sharply.
Not that I could see properly anyway.
When I opened my eyes, all that greeted me was a murky, endless darkness.
Sometimes it felt like the deep sea, where not a single ray of light can reach. Other times it felt like a universe emptied of stars and moon, a void of pure black.
The color was no different from when my eyes were closed.
Eyes open or shut, the world remained dark.
If I let all the observed information wash away, then the world was equally dark either way.
But the darkness I saw with my eyes open carried a much stronger sense of rejection.
Of course, it didn't matter much—the Authority that had fused with my spatial perception kicked in normally afterward, and I ended up with something like a disability simulator.
Anyway, I hadn't opened my eyes since the first day I arrived in this world.
Until now.
I lifted my buried face, and an intense red color imprinted itself on my retinas.
Red hair tickling the tip of my nose, and beneath it, pale white skin...
It was Hong Yeon-hwa. She was asleep, breathing softly with me wrapped in her arms.
Buried deep in that snug embrace, I could feel her warm body heat.
I blinked slowly.
Red and flesh tones... familiar colors.
Since I wasn't born blind, these were colors I'd seen plenty of in my old world.
I'd also relied heavily on the Authority of Observation to draw in and interpret massive amounts of information, perceiving the world through a higher sense that mere sight couldn't even begin to compare to.
Truth be told, a world seen with the eyes might seem incredibly limited, suffocating, and inferior compared to the observed information.
But the world seen with eyes felt different.
It gave me an impression entirely distinct from what data could convey. It felt strangely novel.
They say people are so incredibly foolish and slow that they only recognize something's true value after they've lost it.
That was definitely my case.
I hadn't known how precious my eyes were, even when my sight was only blurry, and only realized their worth after they were taken from me for a while.
'...The hell?'
The awkward, strained blinking felt unfamiliar.
I touched the area around my eyes with a strange expression.
Colors registered on my retinas. Red and flesh tones. I couldn't make out much else.
I glanced to the side and saw thick fog.
A dense, impenetrable fog that blocked everything beyond an inch ahead.
The other side was completely invisible.
It was enough to make me doubt whether there was even another side.
When I turned the other way, the fog was there too.
I glanced up and down, and the fog filled everything densely.
A quick look in every direction revealed nothing but fog.
The only exception was Hong Yeon-hwa and the tiny space immediately around her.
In the hazy, dim gray of the mist, Hong Yeon-hwa was the only thing with any distinct color.
'...What.'
My expression unwittingly turned bemused.
Yesterday... when I kissed Hong Yeon-hwa, my eyes had opened on their own.
I saw her face with my own eyes for the first time. I'd been continuously aware of it through information, but seeing Hong Yeon-hwa with my own eyes was so beautiful that my mind went completely blank.
But I couldn't see anything around her.
The fog-like haze was packed so thickly that it completely sealed off my field of vision.
'This is ridiculous.'
I felt truly dumbfounded.
I didn't even know why my vision had opened, and on top of that, what I could see was barely half a field of view. My head was spinning...
And then...
"...*Sniff sniff.*"
My nose twitched suddenly.
Things like this had happened plenty of times before. Even when I couldn't smell anything, I'd still sniff like this—mostly around people I disliked... or when I got close to someone.
But now I could actually smell something.
The overwhelmingly intense source of the scent was right under my nose.
Flesh rising and falling in front of my nose with every breath Hong Yeon-hwa took. The chest I'd been spoiled rotten against all night.
"......"
I lowered my head again and pressed my face firmly into her ample chest.
The bridge of my nose buried into her soft skin, and the world's most intense scent of flesh filled my nostrils.
Sweet and savory. It was like the smell of warm milk.
The soft sensation propping up my face, the warmest body heat in the world, Hong Yeon-hwa's personal scent filling my nasal cavity...
My body went limp on its own. My mind, drunk on bliss, felt hazy and floaty.
"Goo..."
[Happy]
[Happy]
[Good]
[Happy...]
...
I'm happy.
There's no room for argument. The substance of happiness is practically radiating from my whole body.
I was the happiest person in the world right now.
I wanted to stay like this forever.
I wanted to stay held by Hong Yeon-hwa, spoiled thoroughly and comforted.
Forever, from now on.
To do that... to live happily for a long, long time, there can't be any threats.
And those kinds of threats usually won't resolve themselves if I just sit still. I have to move on my own, neutralize the threats, and root them out.
For me, the threats were the catastrophe events that send the world reeling... the invasion of the Towers.
Tower of Purgatory, Tower of Bitter Cold, Tower of the Dead...
Even for the sake of a happy future, I had to stop the Towers from throwing the world into chaos.
'This outing is for exactly that, after all.'
Leave the Calamity Flame estate and locate the dungeon 'Lake of Mana.'
The Lake of Mana is a perfect place to enhance one's magic, as its interior is filled with pure magical power.
Despite that, it's a rare dungeon that doesn't produce many monsters to fend off intruders... in short, it's a gold mine of a dungeon.
Finding and entering it was seriously shitty in the original story, but as long as I have the Authorities of Observation and Space, I should be able to enter with a bit of time.
'The Proof of Protection happens to be there, too.'
Also, the prosthetic-arm-type artifact 'Proof of Protection' exists in the Lake of Mana.
If I can just be recognized as the Proof of Protection's owner, I can simultaneously fill the void of my missing arm and increase my combat power.
The Proof of Protection is fussy about choosing its owner. From what I recall, it judges based on disposition.
If I don't get recognized... I'll just sell it off and quietly get my arm restored.
I'd been putting off regeneration until now in case I could equip it, but if I can't use the Proof of Protection, there was no reason to keep my arm empty.
And conveniently, the base of a faction that would be a nuisance in the future is near the dungeon.
It's still early, so they haven't properly bulked up yet. If I go now and smash everything to pieces, the future will be much easier.
In other words, I'll have to keep busy.
"Nngh..."
With the feeling of swallowing blood-tinged tears, I lifted my body.
Immediately, Hong Yeon-hwa's arms, which had been holding me tight, tightened.
I wriggled around, then grabbed a large pillow lying beside us and tucked it into her arms instead of me.
Hong Yeon-hwa hadn't been able to sleep properly during the night. Her brows twitched slightly, as if finding something odd, but she soon sank back into sleep, breathing evenly.
I climbed off the bed.
I looked around with my eyes barely open, but there was only endless fog. In the end, I closed my eyes again.
First, I opened the fridge in the room and took out a drink.
Checking the label, it looked like orange juice. The glass bottle containing the liquid was extremely fancy, so it seemed this, too, was a high-end product.
'The smell... still nothing.'
I opened the cap and tried to smell it, but I couldn't detect even a hint of something orange-like.
Instead, I could smell a few other things.
The common factor was that they were all scents originating from Hong Yeon-hwa... in other words, her personal scent.
I took a sip of the drink with an odd expression.
It was cool.
I couldn't taste it. Last night, when I was being spoiled rotten and licking Hong Yeon-hwa's skin, I could taste it...
Right when my eyes opened yesterday, my senses of taste and smell had come back too.
But they came back in a half-assed way.
And I could speak, too.
"Ah— *Cough!*"
- *Cough, hack.*
It came back in a half-assed way.
The moment I tried to speak, a tearing pain shot through my throat. By now, I was used enough to pain that I didn't roll on the floor like a mess.
I spoke perfectly fine yesterday, and now it's doing this shit again.
I had a guess.
'......'
I returned to the bed.
Hong Yeon-hwa was still sound asleep.
I felt a little sorry seeing her like that. The reason she couldn't sleep properly yesterday was because she'd indulged all my spoiled behavior.
I pulled up the twisted blanket and covered her up to her chest, then calmly opened my mouth.
"Yeon... hwa..."
My guess was right.
My voice, too, followed the same pattern.
I could only speak when talking to 'Hong Yeon-hwa.'
'...What the hell is this.'
Eyes that only see Hong Yeon-hwa, a nose that only smells Hong Yeon-hwa, a weird tongue that only tastes Hong Yeon-hwa... and speech only possible with Hong Yeon-hwa...
The sense seal broke. But not completely.
The Curse of Silence broke. But half-assedly.
I hadn't done anything.
I hadn't used the Curse-Lifting Jewel, and I hadn't used the Tower's Wish Ticket.
What the hell do you have to do to make a curse go haywire just from a ki... a kiss acting as the trigger?
I had... somewhat of a guess.
'......'
I let out a deep sigh and opened my eyes.
Thick fog everywhere. With Hong Yeon-hwa gone from my sight, everything was just mist.
It was fog so dense I could barely see an inch ahead, but...
[...? ...!]
[...! ... ... ...]
[... ... ... ..... ....]
In one corner of my vision, I could faintly see a small, rectangular something flickering in the air.
When I moved my gaze, the rectangle followed to the corner of my sight.
'What the fuck...'
What is that.
Familiar with games... familiar with the game 〈Savior〉, I could guess what that thing was.
That was why a curse slipped out on its own.
I gritted my teeth roughly and dragged a hand down my face.
'The Status Window...'
The number-one contributor to a player's growth.
'That thing really was attached to me...'
My knees folded involuntarily from sheer empty laughter...
.
.
.
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul→Hong Yeon-hwa
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♡(90▷91/100)
｢Affection｣ ｢Milk｣ ｢Guilt｣ ｢Gratitude｣ ｢Warmth｣ ｢Stability｣ ｢Softness｣