2. The Horrifying Future Foretold

She led me by the hand, and we made our way to her home.

Her home was enormous — one of those grand, imposing mansions straight out of a medieval-period drama.

Her name was Alice Cumul.

When a knight-lord bearing the name Cumul returned with a boy of barely ten years in tow, the entire mansion was thrown into confusion.

"My lady. Welcome back."

"Yes. I went out to investigate, under the Emperor's direct orders."

"Did you discover any trace of the culprit?"

"No trace as such — but if you ask me for my guess, I'd say it's one of the intermediate-rank demons."

"If it were a lower-rank fiend, perhaps, but why would a demon of intermediate rank...?"

It was an elderly gentleman in a formal suit and a monocle who asked this of Alice, his eyes flicking toward me as he did.

At that, Alice looked my way and began to explain the situation.

Having received a direct command from the Emperor, she said, she was searching for the 'Remnants of Darkness' throwing the nation into disarray.

"I'll need to hear the other knight-captains' opinions as well, but my own belief is that it's Asmodeus."

Demons... are beings born from the Calamitous Beasts.

Among them stood out the seventy-two great demons.

And of those seventy-two, Alice was currently investigating the one ranked 32nd in the hierarchy — Asmodeus.

It wasn't just in the Cumul Territory. Across the entire nation, the bodies of slain virgin women were being discovered one after another. They were found with no external wounds, dead of cardiac arrest, a strange unidentified fluid smeared across their skin,

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

and a whitish liquid pouring from between their legs.

This nameless phenomenon I'd seen before in the game... it's Asmodeus's doing.

The Demon of Lust, Asmodeus.

A demon who abducted women, violated them, and lived on that way — defiling the women he kidnapped until he tired of them.

And when he did grow bored, he would coat their entire bodies in his own spit just so he could show others how filthy the women had become because of him — a demon who took pleasure in that very sight.

Alice moved out in person, and in the end produced the findings of her investigation.

"Based on my analysis, I believe it's likely Asmodeus, the Demon of Lust."

Armed with the information I'd gathered from strategy guides, I affirmed the results of her investigation.

So there I was, recalling that strategy guide I had read before the game ever began — when suddenly my skull rang with a shrill whine and a crushing headache descended on me.

The pain was so violent, as if someone were grinding my brain to paste and wringing it dry, that I couldn't even stay on my feet.

"Ugh!!!!!"

"Kid!"

"Someone — any of the staff — fetch the Cumul family physician, now!"

"Forgive the intrusion, young master."

Alice swiftly read ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠my condition and called for her family's physician, while the butler rushed to carry me toward the bedroom on his back.

Crushed by the excruciating pain, I finally lost consciousness on the butler's back.

"Nngh..."

By the time I came to, the sky had gone dark, and I was lying in a plush, comfortable bed.

Beside me, Alice had apparently been nursing me through the night — she was asleep, slumped back in a chair at my bedside. It was then that a voice echoed inside my head.

A hidden quest?

The Status Window... meaning—

While I was still processing the thought, a holographic status window flickered into existence before my eyes with a soft chime.

Before me floated a dazzling array of titles and traits.

And when I lowered my gaze, I could read the information pertaining to my own body.

As I pored over the display, I noticed a "View Details" option beneath the trait entries. Since the strategy guides had never once mentioned the word "trait," I needed every scrap of information I could get.

Details?

Given that the word "details" was there, it was probably a function that explained my traits in greater depth.

And sure enough, my guess proved correct.

First Trait — The One Watched by the Heavens

?! Holy crap. What kind of busted trait is this?

A trait of absolutely insane specifications — one that stripped the stats from anyone who bore hostility toward you and handed those stats straight to you.

It was a trait I had never once seen in the game or in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠any strategy guide, and it left me genuinely stunned.

Its performance was so good it almost seemed too good — so good, in fact, that I was a little afraid of what the heavens might make me do for it.

When I shifted my gaze downward, I found the new trait.

The 'Status Window' — the trait I'd gained alongside that mysterious achievement the moment my splitting headache struck.

I should check this one out too... The Status Window, huh...

Second Trait — Status Window

At a glance it looked ordinary, but this one was broken too.

The 'Status Window' was a trait no one else could ever possess, which meant that no matter how desperately others strove and toiled for their results, they could never simply look up how things were going.

In other words — for everyone else, there was no way of knowing whether the path they were walking was actually the right one.

But unlike everyone else, I can see exactly where I'm falling short, and which direction I should push my training or my reinforcement in...

What's more, I could view the stats of others. It meant, in effect, being able to see the entire scope of a person's capabilities. And just on the strength of being able to inspect an opponent's stats, this trait could, depending on how I used it, prove even more efficient than my first.

So I decided to start with the one sleeping soundly beside me — and called up Alice's status window.

I was startled by what I saw of her traits.

The first was Chains of Hatred.

I knew that a great many people bore this particular trait.

Alice's appearance was more than enough to stoke the desires of men and demons alike, and so her father had kept her under strict protection.

That said, humans were no better — they didn't exactly leave her in peace, either.

The only mercy in it all was that, at least unlike the demons, they didn't resort to grotesque methods to drag her away.

But even that protection fell apart when her father fell in the campaign against the Great Demon...

In the end, she refused every proposal of marriage that came from outside the territory, on the grounds that she first had to shore up the domain her father had poured his life into building.

From then on, Alice devoted herself entirely to honing the knowledge and swordsmanship her position demanded, and her hatred for demons only burned hotter with each passing day.

And Alice's end... was a wretched one.

The demon who had killed her father was the one ranked 32nd in the hierarchy — Asmodeus.

Having caught the Demon of Lust's eye, Alice led her army into a decisive battle against Asmodeus, but she could not withstand his monstrous forces, and two years later she was defeated — and became a slave in the demon's castle.

At the age of twenty-one, in the very prime of her life, her world was shattered.

The Cumul Territory, which had never produced an heir — she had only just come of age, and personal troubles had seen to that.

The land gradually fell into ruin, was eventually written off as a casualty of war, and the Cumul family passed into the hands of the royal house.

Alice — the head of House Cumul who could not be found for more than a year — was ultimately confirmed dead by a single adventurer.

And according to that adventurer's account—

When he found Alice at twenty-two, a whitish liquid was pouring ceaselessly from between her legs, and she was in the midst of being violated by lower demons — goblins and imps.

Of course, I was never going to let it come to that.

That debt would be paid in blood.

The second thing that caught my eye was Radiant Light.

From what I'd seen in the game, the trait 'The One Watched by the Heavens' was supposed to belong to the Successor of the Azure Dragon.

Which meant that I was the Azure Dragon's Successor. Naturally, then, meeting Alice — the bearer of 'Radiant Light' — was destined from the start.

But we had yet to form a contract.

I had to forge that contract and grant Alice the strength to protect herself.

Not that I planned on dying, of course.

Still... she's the head of a family that serves a Divine Beast in the East. Would she even be willing to contract with me...?

Just as my thoughts were chasing themselves in circles—

a soft voice drifted over from beside me.

Presumably the voice of the girl who had been sleeping soundly at my side.

"You're awake?"

Alice swept her golden hair back with one hand as she posed the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠question.

For a moment I found myself staring, dazed, at the sight of her — and catching that look, Alice leaned in a little closer and asked again, carefully.

"Are you still in pain somewhere? The Cumul family physician said there was nothing wrong with you, but..."

Why was this person so kind?

I couldn't say. Nothing about her outward appearance gave any hint of it.

It was hard to chalk it all up to her being a knight, either.

I put the thought aside and decided to set her worries at ease, if only for a moment.

"I'm all right. Noona."

"Thank goodness. I was half convinced you'd caught some strange sickness out in that forest."

Would it be better not to bring up the traits?

In the very moment that thought crossed my mind, she asked me something else.

"I ask only because it occurs to me — do you have somewhere to return to?"

"....."

I couldn't answer.

The home I had been thinking of was one I could never return to again.

And by the time I went back, who knew how much time would have passed in the world I'd once lived in? There was no way to even guess.

As I sat there, unable to speak, Alice said to me,

"Live here in this mansion as you please. I've already explained your situation to the staff."

I had nowhere to return to anyway.

So rather than drown myself in complicated thoughts, living under one roof with a beautiful woman didn't seem like such a bad deal. Granted, "one roof" was a generous way to describe a mansion that vast.

"This should have been my first question, but — might you tell me your name? 'You there' and 'hey, you' feel a bit... ill-fitting, don't you think?"

Won over by the warmth of her heart, I gave her the name my parents had given me, the name my little sister had called out, the name my friends had shouted across playgrounds.

"It's Lee Hyun. I'll be in your care, Noona."

By giving my name to the knight-lord, our introduction was complete.

Even as I returned Alice's greeting, I felt the realization swell until it filled my entire skull — the game had truly begun.

And so, within a game I had failed to clear time and time again, my survival game began.