Chapter 41
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 41
The view ahead warped, and a bluish window appeared.
The Character Window.
A setting that didn't originally exist in this world, but a privilege I'd received as an Outsider.
「Park Ha-yul」──────
▶Grade: Lead Role
▶Family: Geunwon Sulga
▶Primary Attribute: Fire (火)
I quickly skipped past the basic description and stats and moved on to the traits window.
I clicked on Appraisal and skimmed through the knowledge I'd acquired so far — a list that, for me, was no different from skills.
[Korean Hero-Grade Armament Compendium, Vol. 1] : 64%]
[1-Star Fire-Style Sorcery : 87%]
[1-Star Water-Style Sorcery : 85%]
[1-Star Wood-Style Sorcery : 82%]
[1-Star Wind-Style Sorcery : 80%]
[1-Star Earth-Style Sorcery : 44%]
[1-Star Metal-Style Sorcery : 48%]
[Samjaegong: 42%]
Setting aside the minor entries and gathering only the combat-related ones, it came out to roughly this.
It was the result I'd built up over the past days, cutting back even on sleep.
"I did work hard."
Seeing it all laid out at once felt strangely moving.
Of course, it was nothing compared to people who'd learned things properly, but it hadn't been as easy as I'd thought, either.
I'd lost count of how many times I'd collapsed as if blacking out.......
Because I'd learned through attributes, there hadn't been a single day when my body was intact.
I'd had to endure the aftereffects of mana exhaustion — something most people would be lucky never to experience once in their lives — every single day, like it was ordinary muscle soreness.
Anyway, this report card wasn't laid out for self-praise, so I'd stop whining about it here.
Now I intended to look at it from a critical angle.
First, let's examine the problems that surfaced in today's battle.
"First, sorcery."
My original goal had been to raise my comprehension of every 1-star sorcery to around 90%.
Once I passed 80%, progress slowed to a crawl, like pouring water into a bottomless pit, but I'd wanted to perfect the fundamentals.
But today.
Even if not perfect, the sorcery I'd deployed at a nearly flawless level had been blocked by Helmut.
For 1-star Fire-Style Sorcery at 87% comprehension, the destructive power alone should have been at least 2nd Circle.
Even if it wasn't complete, it was polished enough to be called nearly flawless.......
I'd pretended to be unfazed, but it would be a lie to say I wasn't shocked.
"As expected."
The difference in star grade couldn't be ignored, it seemed.
So I boldly skipped the originally planned 90% goal.
I decided to cap them at 85% and move Fire-Style Sorcery and Water-Style Sorcery up to the next level.
Because 2-star sorcery at 80% would be stronger than 1-star sorcery at 90%.
If I contacted Secretary Choi, I should be able to get 2-star sorcery manuals compiled by my family without much trouble.
Things would change from 3-star onward, where the schools split.......
Anyway, for the time being I would narrow my focus: go all-in on 2-star Fire-Style Sorcery and Water-Style Sorcery.
"More than that......."
Actually, the urgent issue was Armament Manifestation.
A trump card I could never afford to let lose its edge had been crushed today before it could do much of anything.
The situation itself had been unfavorable, and the bastard's response had been abnormal in some ways, but that was just an excuse.
A failure was a failure.
Then why had it been so powerless?
Because my comprehension stat was lacking?
It wasn't that.
Of course, in the case of the Armament Compendium, it was so abstruse and complex that the stat increase was incomparably slower than for sorcery — that was true.
But the comprehension stat wasn't proportional to an armament's performance.
It was a matter of how many I could handle.
Besides, the problem hadn't been that my Armaments were weak.
In the end, it was a problem of utilization.
My fighting style—throwing them out and relying entirely on their built-in effects—had reached its limit.......
And this was also a problem stemming from my mindset.
More than a month had passed since I entered this world, but I still hadn't been able to shake the thought that I was an ordinary person.
......So.
I'd fought using only Appraisal and Manifestation, without putting in the kind of effort Baek Sa-young did — swinging a sword hundreds of times a day or researching a better path of the sword.
"But now I have to accept it."
That the genre of my life had changed.
I muttered as if making a vow to myself.
Now, as an Awakener, I needed to draw out the performance of my armaments to the extreme.
So how should I do that?
First, since most of my armaments were swords, I tried imagining Baek Sa-young as a model.
Even with a terrifying blade flying at him, he never so much as blinked—thrusting, slashing, deflecting, then charging again.......
"......This is going to be tough."
Then I stopped right away.
Because it was a realm that couldn't be reached by mindset alone.
No joke—I might end up spending the entire year doing nothing but swinging a sword.
Swordsmanship was something the body had to internalize rather than knowledge you simply acquired; understanding it didn't mean my body could follow.
Especially for Park Ha-yul, whose overall stats were lacking, it would just be the recklessness of someone who didn't know his place.
So in the end, it came down to long range.......
To actively utilize the First Sword and Second Sword I was using as my main armaments right now, there was honestly nothing better than this.
"Flying Blade Sorcery."
Not just chucking them mindlessly like now, but true Flying Blade Sorcery with meticulous control layered on top.
And I knew someone — no, a bastard — who would earn unrivaled fame in this field.
He wasn't an Awakener, though. He was a Demonkin.
Was his name Radeon?
He was a villain who rose to prominence after the midpoint, wielding dozens of flying blades like his own hands and feet.
His traits backing him up played a part, but the core was an armament he'd obtained by chance in the process of nearly dying and coming back.
"Cheonjam Thread."
The strongest thread in the world, also called spirit silk.
When infused with mana, it became transparent or changed length. It was a utility-type armament with limitless applications.
He'd connected this Cheonjam Thread to his flying blades and earned great notoriety.
"But what if......."
What if I moved one step faster and seized the Cheonjam Thread first?
Not only would I neutralize a powerful villain, but it would be like giving wings to the First Sword and Second Sword.
"Would it be possible?"
But when I thought about actually putting the plan into action, it didn't seem so easy.
The timing wasn't bad, but it was something that could only be obtained by literally nearly dying and coming back.
Not so much because the Monsters I'd have to face were strong, but because the space containing the Cheonjam Thread itself was bizarre.
I pondered for a moment, then picked up my phone to at least find out the location first.
But then.
"What?"
Quite a few text messages had arrived in the meantime.
I checked the unknown number first, and it was the auction house.
[Hello, Mr. Park Ha-yul. This is Lee Sa-young, head of the product management department at Sejong Auction House. First, my apologies.......]
After discovering that a bomb had been installed in the necklace, they'd apparently moved to handle the situation.
[We would like to process insurance at twice the winning bid price, and additionally, VIP admission to the secret auction house.......]
Oh-ho.
The compensation was substantial.
I'd expected the principal to be guaranteed, but twice that plus VIP admission.......
The development right in front of me.
And looking further ahead to the succession battle in my family, the more money I had, the better.
The fact that wealth was as important as martial power was a universal law across all times and places.
They asked me to call, so I'd have to contact them on Monday.
I scrolled down and checked the other messages.
[Sender: Baek Sa-young]
[Park Ha-yul, where are you?]
[I heard you returned. Are you okay?]
[Sender: So Yi-hyeon]
[Park Ha-yul, thanks to you, the incident was resolved without major damage.......]
[Sender: Joo A-rin]
[Did something happen between you and Seo-yoon? And I have something to ask about that necklace. Why.......]
I sent a brief reply to Baek Sa-young, and Joo A-rin's message.......
I just ignored it.
Because it was awkward to explain.
I couldn't exactly say I'd won the bid knowing it was a bomb.
Keeping my mouth shut was the answer.
Any questions or interest would fade with time.
The same went for my relationship with Cheon Seo-yoon.
Things were awkward now, and she might even treat me like an enemy for a while, but if I simply let it pass, those feelings would eventually fade.
Forgetting was an immutable truth that acted not only on memory but also on emotion.......
"Let's stop thinking about it now."
I shook my head to cast off the idle thoughts, then logged onto the green portal site as I'd originally planned.
It was to determine the Cheonjam Thread's location, and when I searched using "moving island" as a keyword, I soon found the answer I wanted.
Mokpo, Jeollanam-do.
The physical distance was considerable, but if I used a portal, it would be quick.
Fortunately, perhaps because it was early in the story, there were no signs that anyone had begun a professional investigation.
The stories about the "moving island" were regarded as just one of the local ghost stories, circulating only among the villagers.
At least it was certain that he hadn't discovered it yet.
"Location's settled."
Next, it was time to figure out how to survive in that bizarre space.
Since I'd have to hold my breath for a long time inside a strongly acidic liquid, I needed to prepare thoroughly.
I added information I found online to what I already knew and found an answer.
First, the strong acid — was it the mucus of a giant starfish?
It seemed I could dilute it by spreading a strongly alkaline liquid over myself.
And for breathing, I rummaged through related sorcery before discovering a simpler method and pivoting to that.
There was no need to overcomplicate it.
"A respirator and an oxygen tank."
Advanced science could substitute for magic, after all.
* * *
Sunday morning, I left Taehak.
First I moved to Seoul, then took a portal bound for Mokpo.
My destination was a small village near the coast, so from there I traveled by bus.
I departed at 8, and arrived around 10.
First, I asked around for a boat heading to the "moving island."
While glancing around a dock so small it was embarrassing to call it a harbor, I met a captain with a gruff, weathered look.
"Why go there? It's hard to even anchor, and once you get there, there's nothing to see."
"Just because. I have something to investigate. I'd appreciate the favor."
The captain, who'd waved his hands saying it would be a wasted trip, nodded right away once he saw the bills placed in my hand.
"Let's go. After I drop you off, I really just wait?"
"Yes. Three hours should be enough."
I tapped the oxygen tank I'd been carrying on my back for no real reason and followed behind the captain.
Like that, I boarded the boat and headed for the moving island.
It was close enough to the mainland to be visible with the naked eye, so we arrived quickly.
"I'll be nearby, so blow the whistle when you're done."
The captain dropped me off on the island and casually sailed away.
The exact entrance had never been shown in the original work, so I first made a large circuit around the island.
Was it about the size of Dokdo?
It was a very small island, so I was able to find it without difficulty.
The exact center of the island.
I sensed it when I saw the trees around that spot shaking unusually.
When I approached, sure enough.......
Between the trees, I saw a large pit that looked to be about 2 meters in diameter.
A fierce wind rose from it at regular intervals.
I cautiously poked my head out and peered inside, but it was too dark to see well.
Anyway, it seemed I'd arrived at the right place, so I got my gear ready first.
After undressing, I put on a full-body wetsuit and protective gear that would protect me from the strong acid.
I took out the giant starfish mucus stored in two 1.5L plastic bottles and spread it evenly over myself.
It had arrived this morning via dawn delivery.
I meticulously applied it to my goggles and oxygen tank as well, without missing a spot.
Radeon, who'd obtained the Cheonjam Thread in the original work.
Remembering how his skin and hair had all burned away right after he fell into the pit, I couldn't help but feel a strong sense of alarm.
Once all the preparations were done, I timed it for a moment.
Then, at the instant a strong updraft rose from near the bottom of the pit.
"Here goes."
I jumped without hesitation.
The true identity of the moving island.
Gwisusan, a colossal Irregular-class Monster that had only ever appeared in a page of history.
Into its gaping breathing hole.......