Curse
Curse
It took a while to calm Seo-yul down.
"Hey, Seo-yul? Is that how you treat someone?"
- Grrrr...
Seo-yul bared her teeth in Ellia's arms. She even growled low in her throat.
I was inwardly shaken by how she acted like an animal threatening an enemy.
'Why is she acting like that?'
Seo-yul was showing wariness toward Hong Yeon-hwa for some reason.
It was the first time she'd shown wariness like this.
She hadn't been all that friendly when she first saw Ellia either.
She'd been a little sulky and looked displeased, but not to this degree.
Master? When she first met my master a few days ago, she hadn't seemed particularly averse.
There was a little rejection, but I could understand it as the kind of wariness a child shows toward a strange adult.
Toward Professor Liana... she was surprisingly friendly.
Professor Liana was the first person she didn't stare at from a distance. Instead, Seo-yul approached with light steps and sniffed around.
Liana was also the person Seo-yul allowed to pet and hold her, and to whom she gave physical affection most quickly and comfortably.
'Is it because she's a spirit caster?'
Fairies and spirits. I can't say anything definitively, but people often consider them relatives of a sort.
Seo-yul is a fairy, and Professor Liana is a spirit caster with a powerful spirit affinity. It wouldn't be strange for her to feel a certain familiarity.
The same goes for Ellia. Ellia was also born with spirit affinity, so that's probably why they got close easily.
'...Familiarity?'
A sudden sense of incongruity made me tilt my head.
Familiarity... something known and comfortable...
'I think I felt that too...?'
When I first met Ellia... to put it nicely, my mental state was in really bad shape.
A shut-in had been dragged into a strange game-like world.
A field of vision that was blurry without my glasses turned completely dark, and spatial information was crammed into my head.
My sharpened senses picked up the whispers around me with exact clarity and caught every single gaze boring into me.
It was attention that my feeble mind, which had been cooped up at home for nearly a year or two, had a hard time overcoming.
It wasn't that no one tried to help, but I had bolted in surprise on more than one occasion.
I didn't do that with Ellia.
From the moment I first scanned her with spatial perception, I felt no rejection.
The gazes and sounds I sensed didn't bother me either.
A kind of comfortable feeling... I might have been tense, but I didn't run away and accepted help.
'Professor Liana...'
I think it was similar then too.
There was no rejection from the start, and I felt a similar sense of comfort and warmth.
Professor Liana was the one who apologized first and told me to ask for anything I needed, but I went so far as to ask her for help with mana training before she even offered.
Looking back, it was really unusual for me to ask someone for help first.
'......'
It's a feeling that's hard to describe.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
A hand touched my cheek while I was unconsciously making a sour face.
It was Hong Yeon-hwa's hand. She had come closer.
I flinched at the touch, which was full of worry.
"Huh?"
Hesitantly, I observed Hong Yeon-hwa.
The shadows lingering under her eyes, her complexion microscopically tired... I could find traces of mental anguish.
I wonder whose fault that mental anguish is. Who went to China on purpose and suffered?
It must be because of me...
Even in the middle of that, seeing her show worry instead of anger washed a wave of guilt over me.
Hong Yeon-hwa just quietly stroked my cheek without adding any more words.
After gauging the mood for a moment, I carefully opened my eyes.
Heavy eyelids lifted to reveal gray, unpleasant pupils.
Observation data and vision overlapped.
A misty world came into view.
In the middle of that gloomy mist was the vivid red form of Hong Yeon-hwa.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"...What the?"
Gasps of astonishment, curiosity, and shock burst out around us.
Ignoring them, Hong Yeon-hwa reached out, picked me up, and held me in her arms.
A soft sensation enveloped my body.
The milk scent that had been tickling my nose earlier suddenly grew stronger.
Her warmth soon followed and made my body feel like it was melting.
"Nothing else to say?"
Hong Yeon-hwa asked me while patting my bottom.
Her bright red eyes stared at me as if demanding something.
I knew what she was demanding. I gulped and rolled my tongue.
"I'm, sorry..."
My voice was awkward from disuse.
Maybe because I'd kept my mouth shut for so long, the words didn't come out smoothly and I stammered.
My eyes were the same. Keeping them open made them sting, and they kept fluttering uncontrollably.
"Heung. Your eyes and throat don't hurt? You're not overdoing it, right?"
"It's fine..."
It was quite embarrassing, but Hong Yeon-hwa smiled brightly and looked happy, so I was glad too.
I had been afraid that I might get severely scolded, or that she might actually be upset, but it thankfully didn't seem that way.
A bashful smile appeared on my face from the relief.
The next moment, Hong Yeon-hwa slowly lowered her head.
Her breath approached. Her body scent suddenly grew denser.
Hong Yeon-hwa's face filled my vision.
- Mwah.
A soft sensation pressed against my lips. It was moist and warm. My body shuddered from the clear display of affection that left no room for misunderstanding.
"...Ngh."
Soon, the warmth pulled away.
It was so regretful that a gasp almost slipped out.
"...What is...?"
Then it happened.
A gloomy voice stabbed into my ears, making me flinch involuntarily.
I turned my head toward the sound, but only the murky mist was thick.
However, my observation authority caught my master with a look as if the world had crumbled.
"Heung."
Hong Yeon-hwa wore a smirk, as if boasting.
- Crrrrrack!
A spine-chilling noise came from my master's mouth.
.
.
.
"...Your eyes started working and you spoke because you kissed?"
A little later.
My master, having successfully collected her emotions, wore a dumbfounded expression after hearing the circumstances.
It was a reaction that seemed to doubt her own ears.
The reactions of the others nearby were similar.
Ellia was tilting her head with a question mark floating over her, and Baek A-rin also seemed curious and deep in thought.
"If it's a psychological issue, that might be possible... perhaps?"
Professor Liana subtly voiced her opinion, but even she didn't seem confident.
'Hmm...'
I understood that reaction.
If it were me, I'd find it hard to believe or be curious too.
But I couldn't explain it exactly either.
Because I didn't know why the curses had been lifted, even just slightly.
My emotions had been heightened in many ways at the time... and my head had been complicated, so I'd glossed over it, but no matter how much I thought about it afterward, I couldn't reach an exact conclusion.
If I had to guess... my senses were unsealed right after the k-kiss, so I could only speculate that was the cause.
The surroundings became quiet.
It seemed like everyone had a lot to think about.
I had a lot to think about too. Or rather, it was more like agony.
'...Should I reveal the curses?'
Should I at least make excuses saying it's a disability, or tell them about the sealed taste and smell?
It was a topic I'd agonized over at the start of the first semester, and I had concluded back then to just keep it hidden...
The curse of short life.
There was no way to prove it even if I talked about it. The thorough examination I'd received from the Association hadn't found a single curse.
The curse of sensory sealing and the curse of silence.
I could prove the symptoms... but I had no way to explain it as a curse rather than a disability.
Also, I couldn't tell Hong Yeon-hwa—who put candies in my hand, bought me meals, and asked if I was satisfied with worry and expectation in her eyes—that I 'couldn't actually taste anything'...
So I concealed it.
I judged there was no need to tell them and cause confusion.
It was a curse I'd be unsealing in the future anyway, and if I couldn't unseal it, I'd just up and die somewhere alone, so I had kept it a secret.
I was regretting that choice.
It had been a lie I'd thought through in my own way, but it ultimately brought me regret.
If I kept my mouth shut now, it might come back as even greater regret later.
I steeled my resolve.
Wasn't it something I couldn't keep hiding forever anyway?
Even if I couldn't reveal everything, let me reveal it concerning the curses.
It would be difficult to prove... but they were people who would believe me if I insisted sincerely.
[Actually...]
- Wooooong!
The reason I couldn't open my eyes... was because... of a curse...?
'Huh?'
My words stopped.
The confession necklace came to an abrupt halt.
No, had the world stopped?
'What stopped?'
My senses were strange. There was no sense of touch. The warmth was gone. I couldn't hear any sound. There was nothing. Emptiness.
My surroundings were pitch black.
I couldn't see.
Observation turned.
- Crrrrrrrack─!
It sc━reeched. The normally turning gears tangled and seized up. A harsh rupturing noise rang out and sparks flew. My head─ went blank and bri━ght.
My thoughts slowed─ down. My cognition━ screeched as if a gear wi━th foreign━ matter was stopping。 My perception faded。 My b━ri━ght brain melted down
─Wha、t──
A──bnorm──
One──...─...─???...?
asdfweweewerwrllbdbnbbxncxcbcvereriweosdfowqebncxnvxmznbvbefl─...
『Stop停止』
A faint sensation was transmitted. A gentle hand covered 'around my eyes.'
Something embraced me.
『Restoration復舊』
The endlessly stretching thoughts halted. My melting brain fused back together, and my screeching cognition restarted.
An instant... or an eternity I couldn't perceive—it had all happened in a flash. I couldn't properly grasp it.
'What was that?'
My mind was blank. I couldn't tell what had just happened.
『...Little one』
A voice came from behind me.
I perceived it as such, but honestly I wasn't sure.
It might be more accurate to call it a will rather than a voice. It felt like a consciousness directly piercing my brain.
It was a more familiar sensation than I expected. It was the same feeling as when I summoned spirits, like transmitting my will via telepathy.
But it was on a far higher level.
『Little one』
Whose voice is this?
『Don't treat your body carelessly』
Who is talking?
『...Don't wander around too many dangerous places』
Why does it feel familiar?
.
.
.
My head was spinning.
The mana around me was rippling in confusion.
"─?! ...! ─!"
"─! ...! ...! ...!?"
"...! ─! ...!? ...!"
My head rang dizzily. The sounds entering my ears were too muddled and complex.
What's this? What exactly is this state I've been in since earlier...?
I tried to move my body.
'Ah.'
It wouldn't move. Come to think of it, my body was not just damp but sticky.
Also, my insides felt hollow. It felt as if my guts had been scraped out and the inside was completely empty...
I activated observation.
I observed my blood-soaked form and the people around me, who were wailing while mobilizing every healing method they had.
'What.'
More bullshit.
* * *
[Activating the Curse of Silence]
[Activating the Curse of Solitude]
...
[The Tower of Growth intervenes]
[Activating the Curse of Silence(?)]
[Consumes a great amount of points]
...