The First Blessing (2)
For a long while, Yoon Seoha could only stare blankly at the words floating before her eyes.
You have received the blessing Courage of a Coward.
"Courage of a... coward?"
Saying it out loud only made it sound more bizarre.
Blessing of the Sword.
Heart of Flame.
Aegis of the Wind.
Weren't divine blessings supposed to have magnificent, imposing names like that? But Courage of a Coward? It sounded terribly unimpressive.
"..."
Even so, she couldn't simply dismiss it based on a peculiar title. A blessing was sacred power bestowed upon mortals by gods and transcendent entities. Gathering her courage, Seoha cautiously focused her awareness on the blessing's name. In response, hidden details unfurled in the air before her.
⟨ Courage of a Coward ⟩
Provider: ???
Affinity Domain: Unidentifiable
◈ The greater the fear experienced, the more distinctly hazard awareness sharpens toward surrounding threats.
◈ When advancing directly into danger to protect others despite that terror, the blessing's effects amplify substantially.
"...What?"
Rather than answering her questions, reading the description plunged her into even deeper confusion. Seoha's gaze remained glued to the line directly beneath the title.
Provider: ???
"Question marks?"
Thinking her eyes were playing tricks on her, she rubbed them vigorously, but the message remained unchanged. It didn't cite some obscure, ancient deity she had never heard of. It was literally three question marks. And to top it off, its affinity domain was marked as Unidentifiable.
A chill swept down her spine.
An unknown, untraceable entity of completely indeterminate alignment had suddenly dropped a blessing right into her lap.
What on earth is this?
Could it be a glitch? Yet the effects were far too specific to write off as a simple system error. More than anything, it fit her so unnervingly well—almost as if whoever crafted it had peered into every crevice of her pathetic life.
"...Is someone there?" she whispered into the empty corridor.
Naturally, no answer came. The silence made it all the more terrifying.
Panic setting in, she punched her passcode into the digital door lock, pushed open the entrance, and tumbled inside. She dropped her grocery bag right in the foyer, kicked off her shoes haphazardly, and bolted straight to her laptop.
Her fingers clattered furiously across the keyboard as she typed the blessing's name into the search bar: Courage of a Coward.
"..."
Nothing. Not a single hit.
Granted, the world was vast, and countless uncataloged blessings existed. But she had never heard of a blessing whose provider appeared as question marks and whose domain could not be evaluated by the system. If even a single comparable case had ever been reported, there should have been at least one community post or forum thread about it.
She typed again: Blessing provider question marks affinity unidentifiable.
Once more, zero relevant results.
"What is going on...?"
Chewing her lip, Seoha navigated directly to the official Hunter Association portal—the public registry documenting every verified deity and recorded blessing in modern history. She submitted another query under the blessing registry.
Next, she copied the exact text from her status screen into the provider field: ???.
"Ah."
Question marks weren't even recognized as a valid search parameter. And when she checked the drop-down menu for affinity domains, there wasn't even a way to search for anomalies.
Celestial Domain
Samsara Domain
Nature Domain
Heroic Domain
Phantasmal Domain
Abyssal Domain
Only six options existed—the fundamental classifications used to categorize every blessing and divine entity known to mankind. Naturally, an option like Unidentifiable was nowhere to be found. Even hybrid blessings that straddled two domains still showed which affinities they leaned toward. Yet hers stated flatly that any determination was impossible.
"..."
The more she searched, the deeper the dread coiled in her gut. An unsettling thought flickered through her mind.
Could it be related to the Abyssal Domain?
Not everything connected to the Abyss was inherently evil or destructive. However, blessings tied to base desires or obsessions frequently hid exorbitant costs that only revealed themselves after use. The real problem was that she had no way of knowing what hidden conditions or penalties were attached to this power. Dark rumors whispered of hunters who had unwittingly traded away their memories, their blood, or even their lifespans to dark entities. Whether those tales were true or not didn't matter right now.
"Why me, of all people...?"
She had spent seven grueling years desperately wishing for a blessing, yet now her hands trembled, and a hollow ache twisted her stomach. Still, nothing was certain. Perhaps she was just being her usual pathetic self—jumping at shadows and panicking over nothing.
With a sigh, she shut her laptop. A text notification lit up her phone screen.
It was a standard low-rank dungeon raid. She had cleared that particular gate dozens of times. The monsters were predictable: giant rats, goblins, and, if luck was especially rotten, a single hobgoblin. Even without a blessing, she knew she could pull her own weight.
Just treat it like any other day, she told herself. She had no intention of recklessly relying on an unverified power. She could complete tomorrow's raid as usual and consult the Hunter Association afterward.
Collapsing onto her bed, Seoha reached for the light switch, then hesitated.
"..."
Too frightened to sleep in the dark, she left the lamp on and closed her eyes. Sleep eluded her. If terror seized her in the dungeon tomorrow, would this blessing activate on its own? And if it did, would there truly be no price to pay?
Lying awake under the warm glare of the ceiling bulb, a memory from long ago crept into her thoughts. The day she had first set foot in a dungeon. The sight of a goblin lunging at her while she stood paralyzed with terror. The bloodied arm of the senior hunter who had stepped in to deflect the blade for her. And then, the sneering words spat right into her face.
Fucking coward.
Seoha pulled the blanket up over her head. She had sworn to quit being a hunter that day. Yet when the next morning arrived, she had quietly picked up her spear and packed her gear all over again. Tomorrow would be no different.
"Seoha-ssi."
"Yes?"
"Are you all right?"
Seoha jerked her head up with a start. Outside the dungeon entrance, the temporary party leader was regarding her with furrowed brows.
"You look terribly pale."
"Ah, I just... didn't sleep very well."
"You can sit this one out if you aren't feeling up to it."
"No, I'm fine. Really," she answered automatically.
The leader studied her face for a quiet second before nodding. "Let me know immediately if it gets too rough."
"I will."
Seoha adjusted her leather gloves. Most of the people gathered around were unfamiliar faces—a six-person temporary party assembled through the Hunter Association's matching system.
"Um, sunbaenim?"
A rookie hunter standing nearby called out to her tentatively. "This is my first time doing this raid. Is it very difficult?"
"It's not that hard," Seoha said, glancing toward the dungeon threshold. "Just make sure to hug the right wall once we reach the second fork in the tunnels."
"Why the right?"
"Giant rats sometimes build nests along the left ceiling. If you're staring up at the roof, you might miss the goblins creeping up in front of you."
"Oh..."
"As long as you don't panic and sprint off on your own, you'll be fine. Just stay in formation."
The young hunter nodded vigorously. "Understood!"
Seoha grasped the spear strapped to her waist. Her fingertips were slightly chilled. She was scared today, just as she was every other day. But fear was an old companion. Even if you were terrified, you simply moved forward and did your job. That was how she had survived for seven years.
"We're heading in as soon as everyone is ready," the leader announced. The party members began making their final checks. Seoha examined her spearhead and the haft. Nothing was loose. Her healing potions were secured at her hip. Glancing aside, she noticed the novice swordsman adjusting his scabbard.
"Wait a moment."
"Yes?"
She pointed toward his waist. "Your fastening strap came loose."
"Ah!" The youth flustered and quickly tied it tight.
"If you run like that, the scabbard will knock against your shins and trip you up."
"Thank you so much."
"Always keep an eye on your footing inside a dungeon. Tripping and cracking your head before you even engage a monster is just as lethal."
"Right. Thank you, sunbaenim!" The rookie nodded, his face stiff with nerves. Seoha said nothing more and turned back toward the gate.
With a heavy metallic clunk, the iron barrier dividing the staging area from the dungeon swung open. Cool, stagnant air laden with damp earth washed over them. Seoha gripped her spear tighter.
"Moving out," the leader ordered.
The party advanced in formation. The opening stretch proceeded exactly as expected: three giant rats, followed by five scrawny goblins. It was a routine skirmish that posed little threat to an organized group.
Squeeeak!
A giant rat leaped from behind a craggy boulder, jaws gaping wide. Without even turning her head, Seoha planted the butt of her spear into the ground and snapped the shaft upright.
Thwack!
The beast's massive incisors collided hard against the sturdy wood. Pivoting on her heel, she swung her weight through the motion, slamming the rodent headfirst into the cavern wall.
Squelch!
Before it could recover, the iron tip of her spear drove cleanly through its throat.
"How did you know it was coming?" the rookie asked, wide-eyed.
"I heard its claws scratching on the rock."
The rookie blinked as if he hadn't caught a single sound. It was natural. Seoha hadn't developed that sense overnight either; it had taken seven years and dozens of nasty bites before she learned to distinguish those faint rustles in the dark. There was nothing glamorous about her technique, nor was it particularly powerful, but it was more than enough to pull her weight in a low-rank dungeon—even without a divine blessing.
"Everyone okay?" the leader called out.
"All clear!"
"Let's keep moving!"
The party pressed on without incident until they reached the halfway point of the cavern system. Suddenly, Seoha halted in her tracks.
"Hold on."
Scattered across the tunnel floor was a trail of fresh gray rock dust. It hadn't been there during her last run through this zone.
"Did a wall cave in?" the leader muttered.
Advancing a few paces, they discovered a jagged breach blown clean through the stone wall. Beyond the rubble lay an unmapped cavern corridor that shouldn't have existed.
Thud.
A heavy, echoing tremor rolled out from the darkness.
Thud.
Massive footfalls shook the loose pebbles underfoot, followed by ragged, wet breaths like those of a rabid beast.
"Grrrrr..."
A colossal silhouette stepped into the dim light of their torches—hulking shoulders, thick corded arms, and a rusted greataxe gripped in a massive fist.
"...An orc?" Seoha whispered.
She had fought orcs before. Under prepared circumstances, she could manage a single one on her own. But orcs did not spawn in this dungeon. And worse still—it wasn't alone.
Thud. Thud.
Two more towering brutes lumbered out of the darkness behind the first.
"Fall back!" the leader roared.
"GRAAAAAAAWRGH!"
Before the command could fully leave his mouth, the lead orc kicked off the ground. The cavern floor cracked beneath its charge.
BOOOM!
The monster slammed into the vanguard. The tanker's heavy tower shield buckled violently, and his entire body was catapulted through the air, crashing hard against the jagged stone wall. The formation shattered in an instant.
Standing frozen right behind the fallen tanker was the young rookie.
"Tanker-nim!" the rookie shrieked, his face drained of all color, his feet glued to the floor in absolute terror.
In that young man's terrified expression, Seoha saw the faces of countless novices who had stood behind her over the past few years.
'Stick close to Sunbae Seoha.'
'Follow her lead, and at the very least, you won't lose your way.'
In the beginning, she had clung to this profession purely out of stubborn spite. Yet somewhere along the way, novices who knew nothing began placing their trust in her, seeking shelter in her shadow. Having lived with fear her entire life, Seoha understood that paralyzed expression better than anyone.
"Grrr..."
The other two orcs squeezed through the collapsed breach.
"Retreat! Get out of here!" someone screamed as the remaining hunters scrambled toward the exit. The retreat path was wide open; if she turned and bolted right now, she would easily survive. But the tanker lay incapacitated, groaning weakly on the stones. One of the orcs was already towering over him.
"Krrrk..."
The rusted axe rose high above the fallen man's chest.
Seoha's feet felt rooted to the earth. I have to move. I have to sprint over there and drag him away right now. Her mind screamed the command, but her limbs refused to obey.
Run. Save yourself.
Her fingertips shook uncontrollably. Her throat tightened, suffocating her. It was that nightmare from seven years ago all over again.
Right at that moment—
Chime.
Courage of a Coward responds to your terror.
"...!"
The blessing activated, but her fear did not vanish.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Her heart continued to hammer like a wild beast against her ribs. Yet the deadly hazards around her suddenly snapped into razor-sharp focus.
The forward tilt of the orc's hulking shoulder.
The center of gravity pressing down into its right heel.
The vulnerable flank exposed as it raised its massive arm.
The exact downward trajectory the axe would take.
Time had not slowed down, nor had she suddenly received superhuman strength. These were simply the sensory cues she had spent seven years observing—the vital details she had always missed during past crises because terror had blinded her.
...I can see it.
Being able to see it didn't make it any less terrifying. If anything, recognizing just how lethal the threat was made the dread even more suffocating. Her skin prickled with cold sweat, and her knees trembled violently. But this time, she didn't lose sight of what she needed to do.
"Grr..."
The orc's greataxe reached the apex of its arc. The rusted edge glinted coldly under the torchlight.
Stop it!
Forcing strength into legs that desperately screamed to turn and run, Yoon Seoha kicked off the ground and surged forward.
Courage of a Coward resonates with your resolve.