Chapter 27
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 27
Abilities acquired through Appraisal don't wear down easily.
They lie dormant at the base of consciousness, and the moment you flip the switch, they rise naturally to the surface.
I spoke with a voice and manner that even I found stylish, and stood in a posture that was relaxed but not sloppy.
"So you finally recognize me. What was your name?"
"B-Baek Sa-young. Back then you had your hat pulled down low, so......."
"Right, Baek Sa-young...."
I paused as if trying to recall, then tossed it out indifferently.
"Anyway, what brings you here?"
"Well...."
Baek Sa-young hesitated and swallowed what he was about to say, as if he had not completely lowered his guard.
"Ah, is this about the civilian support assignment?"
So I cut in first.
"I heard second-year Class A was dispatched to investigate the disappearances. You're under Professor Lee Taek-jin, right?"
"Ah, yes, that's right. Are you acquainted with him?"
I know him. Of course I know him. I've even held his hand.
"A stubborn brick wall who never listens. You must have it pretty rough."
"Haha. A little."
Thanks to that, the atmosphere grew more relaxed as time went on.
Bringing up the public assistance work and Lee Taek-jin, things only insiders would know, had been a good move.
On top of that, the black badge forged with Manifestation.
When I casually flashed the Special Mission Taskforce insignia—the face of Chiucheonwang engraved on a black background—
"...Actually, a special patrol team was formed and has been patrolling the area."
Baek Sa-young, just twenty-one years old, seemed completely convinced.
It took less than five minutes for him to spill the whole situation.
"I see."
I stroked my chin with a grave expression, then casually broached the subject.
"It seems the disappearance case Class A took on isn't the work of mere Monsters. I can't go into detail, but it appears to be connected to a Demonkin I've been pursuing."
"D-Did you just say Demonkin?"
Baek Sa-young's eyes went wide as he asked again.
I didn't bother adding anything.
I simply stared straight at the great tree before us and hinted only that our objectives were the same.
"Then......."
"It's not certain, so you'd best hold off on reporting it. Once we take a look, something will come into focus. That's enough small talk."
I gave Baek Sa-young a light pat on the shoulder, then walked toward the great tree.
"Y-You're leaving already?"
Baek Sa-young called out urgently, but I didn't look back.
.......
He was probably feeling pretty conflicted.
Would he report first, as in the original?
Or would he investigate thoroughly with someone trustworthy, then report afterward?
But I already knew the answer.
The Baek Sa-young I knew wasn't the type to ignore the possibility right in front of him and take the easy path.
Sure enough, before long, Baek Sa-young called out.
"I-if I won’t be in the way, may I take a look with you?"
Why wouldn't you be allowed? Of course you can.
I was cheering inwardly, but what came out instead was a sharp rebuke.
"Why are you asking me that?"
"Pardon?"
"Don't you know that Taehak students have formal investigative authority during public assistance activities? You do it if you want to."
"Ah......."
"Since we're moving under different orders, there's no hierarchy between us right now. So there's no need to ask permission."
In short, it meant follow along if you want....
Phew.
Even I thought I was X-ing charismatic.
This was why women—no, why Baek Sa-young got so taken with me.
With those words, I walked away without hesitation.
Soon, with the sound of hurried footsteps, Baek Sa-young stood beside me.
"Th-Then I'll join you. It seems like a bigger case than I thought, but I'll do my best not to be a burden."
"At least your attitude is decent."
"Th-Thank you."
When I tossed out that indifferent remark, the corners of Baek Sa-young's mouth twitched.
He was at the height of his yearning for strong people, so even a small compliment seemed to leave him visibly flustered.
"Let's go."
Anyway, having joined forces as planned, we approached the great tree.
I stopped at a distance where a door was likely to be and leaked some information.
"It's a seonang tree."
"Do you know something about it?"
When Baek Sa-young asked, I explained that it was a product of folk religion, a kind of sacred tree where the village guardian deity, the seonang god, was said to dwell.
"But what connection could it have to the case? There's no entrance or any traces at all, is there?"
"That's why it's probably a magic space. When an object carrying strong will is exposed to dense mana concentration for a long time, there's a rare chance it creates a magical space."
"Ah."
"Search thoroughly starting from the base of the tree. There might be a clue leading to the magic space."
When I gave the order naturally, Baek Sa-young dashed off.
He swept his hands busily over the ground, poking around here and there, then soon called out.
"There’s something written here."
As expected.
It was a stone slab densely covered in Hanja whose meaning was not immediately clear.
Baek Sa-young narrowed his eyes and began reading through the Hanja.
"1...03...2, so it was erected in 1032...."
At this rate, we'd be here all night.
His fumbling was irritating, so I just gave the gist.
"It says if you wish to head to the seonang god's shrine, you should show respect."
"You already read it?"
No.
It was something I already knew.
[Remaining Time: 26 days 8 hours 33 minutes]
I estimated the current time based on the remaining time.
It was pretty tight.
About two hours, at most.
If I didn't wrap things up within that window, one Demonkin who had stepped away would return, and I'd have to face two of them.
So I set plausibility aside for the moment.
Originally, I was supposed to put on a whole show here, like playing twenty questions....
I simply picked up three stones lying around and stacked them on the stone slab.
"What are you doing right now...."
Rrrrrumble—
With a dull sound, the stone slab sank.
"...Huh?"
"It's a folk custom that people treated almost like a superstition."
"Superstition?"
"There's a folk belief that when you pass a seonang tree, stacking three stones and bowing three times brings good luck. More than that...."
Partly to change the subject, I ordered him to send a message to the special patrol team.
I told him to say they had found a suspicious location and were going to investigate it, without mentioning me, and to ask for backup if they had not checked in within an hour.
I'd had no choice but to twist the development, but since I planned to match the ending, it was a necessary measure.
"Let's hurry."
I swiftly grabbed Baek Sa-young by the scruff of his neck and shoved him into the hole.
* * *
Baek Sa-young and I entered the magic space beneath the seonang tree.
It was clearly underground, but as we walked, the earthen walls that had enclosed us on all sides vanished, and a wide plain appeared.
It felt like entering another world.
Before we knew it, a sky and moon had appeared, and instead of the musty smell of earth, a fresh breeze blew.
Baek Sa-young, blinking as if surprised, asked.
"So this is a magic space.... Is it the same concept as a Monster nest?"
I shook my head.
"They match in terms of spatial expansion, but the essence is different. It's literally a magical space created somewhere between illusion and reality."
Even when will is materialized, in the end it's still will.
"Let's go a little further in."
Baek Sa-young and I walked forward.
We advanced in silence for about fifteen minutes, then spotted something unusual and stopped again.
Six wooden guardian posts, easily over three meters tall, stood lined up on the left and right, casting down grim, imposing gazes.
On their bodies, like the stone slab, small Chinese characters were engraved.
I didn't need to interpret them; I already knew what they said.
It would mean that if you wanted to pass, you should show proper courtesy.
"Um...."
"Wait."
I scooped up a handful of dirt from the ground and scattered it into the space the guardian posts surrounded as if guarding it.
Whoosh—
Then something quite remarkable happened.
The dirt thrown upward met an invisible force and crumbled, while the dirt below was unharmed.
But if I rashly crawled through based on this alone, I'd be in serious trouble.
"Bow three times...."
The pattern would cross in reverse at a certain point.
The pattern was designed so that you would have to crouch down and stand back up three times.
"How in a single try.... This is seriously unbelievable."
I suddenly heard Baek Sa-young's puzzled muttering, but I quickly shut it down.
"Stop making a fuss and let's get through."
"Ah, yes."
Once we passed through the path the guardian posts yielded, the surrounding air soon changed.
When the blowing wind touched my skin, a stinging sensation came with a sticky, unpleasant feeling.
"Demonic Energy."
The moment I recognized it, the underbrush not far ahead rustled.
Rustle—
What burst out through it were two Grade 8 Monsters, Mangnyang.
They resembled humans, but their skin was especially red, and large tusks protruded through their lips.
In short, their appearance was somewhere between a Western orc and an Eastern dokkaebi.
They were fairly intelligent, lived in packs, and for that reason were among the Monsters Demonkin liked to employ.
"What should we do?"
Baek Sa-young, who had already drawn a mid-length heavy sword, whispered.
What do you mean, what should we do? You need to earn your keep too.
Actually, his strength was needed from this point on.
"Prove it. Whether you're qualified to call me senior."
I patted Baek Sa-young's shoulder once more with a light tap.
"Prove...."
At that, as if a light had suddenly switched on, Baek Sa-young's expression changed completely.
The naive rookie vanished; in his place was a swordsman radiating fierce killing intent, surging forward like the wind.
He approached with steps that were light yet covert.
He lunged like a tiger, and before I knew it, he thrust a sword blazing with flames through one's chest.
When the other one charged with an axe, the attribute contained in his blade transformed.
This time, he unleashed a razor-sharp gust of wind, using it to wrench the embedded sword free as though grinding it out, then drove it straight into the charging monster's abdomen.
All of this happened in nearly the blink of an eye.
...That bastard, was he always this strong?
The protagonist really was in a league of his own.
His use of Attribute Conversion was more skilled than I'd expected, and I watched with fresh surprise.
"I think I was a little rough because I was nervous."
Baek Sa-young scratched his head as if embarrassed, then his eyes sparkled.
"......."
"......."
He clearly wanted to hear a word, so I just brushed it off.
"Watch your left hand.... The left hand is merely support."
For reference, I know absolutely nothing about swordsmanship.
It's all just my Armament carrying me.
...But still, a genius is a genius, I guess.
"Ah, the very basics of gripping the sword were wrong. That's why my consecutive strikes were unstable and my speed dropped...."
Baek Sa-young's eyes went hazy for a moment as he looked down at his own hand, then he began mulling over my meaningless words.
...I considered snapping him out of it, but just left him.
['Greed' is clamoring that it's hungry.]
The thing had been quiet for the past few days, and now it was making a racket.
Wait.
I approached the Mangnyang sprawled on the ground.
['Greed' says to bring it a little closer.]
Like this?
When I brought my hand closer as it asked, something strange happened.
Suddenly, the very center of my palm grew hot.
['Greed' absorbs the Demonic Energy of the Grade 8 Monster 'One-Horned Mangnyang'.]
Fwoooosh—
I felt a suction force that was hard to describe in words.
Was it more like drawing something in than sucking it up?
As that strange pull took hold without any apparent force, black smoke soon rose from the Mangnyang's corpse.
Ssssshh—
The smoke burrowed toward my palm without hesitation. Immediately, a new message appeared.
[Seal Release Rate increases.]
[Seal Release Rate: 0.5%]
0.5%, huh.
For absorbing a Grade 8 Monster, it wasn't a bad number.
['Greed' shouts that it did not even take the edge off its hunger.]
...Got it. You little bastard.
Like a mother bird feeding her chicks, I hurried over to the other Mangnyang.
Grrrrr.
The thing was still breathing.
A large hole had been punched through its chest, but the moment it saw me, it bared its long fangs and revealed its ferocious demonic nature.
Of course, I didn't care in the slightest.
"Become good nourishment."
I manifested a dagger and drove it into the thing's chest.
[You have defeated the Grade 8 Monster, 'One-Horned Mangnyang'.]
[You have gained 12 hours.]
Then I raised my right hand and absorbed the Demonic Energy.
[Seal Release Rate: 1%]
The corners of my mouth rose in satisfaction.
Earning time and absorbing Demonic Energy.
Wasn't this exactly killing two birds with one stone?
When I finished my work and stood up, I suddenly felt a piercing gaze.
"I've learned a great deal. Thank you."
Baek Sa-young bowed deeply at the waist and kept his head lowered for a while.
"Ahem."
Unable to respond, I gave a small, awkward cough.
It was an act I had started for the quest, but it was also becoming genuinely hard to handle.
"...We're almost there. Let's hurry."
I rubbed down the goosebumps that had risen and walked quickly.
Not far away, the seonangdang—a shrine to the seonang god—came into view.
The end of the magic space built on folk religion....
Between the cluster of quiet hanok buildings, an ominous black energy rippled.