Chapter 71
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 71
"They X—ing swarmed the place."
Han Soo-hyeok twisted a cigarette between his lips as he watched the black-robed crowd pushing into the convent building.
His loose hair was now neatly tied back, and his clothes had changed into a crisp suit.
Han Soo-hyeok blew out the deeply inhaled smoke with a long breath and recalled what had happened a little while ago.
"Definitely......"
It had been Demonic Energy that devoured Demonic Energy.
An ancient legacy that few now even knew about.
Something so remote that he himself would not have recognized it if not for the pact passed down through his line.
Its level was still insignificant, so it was not yet at its proper might, but the authority itself was no ordinary thing.......
Bzzz.
But just then, his phone rang.
The buzzing vibration cut through Han Soo-hyeok's thoughts.
"No, what bastard is this?"
After checking the caller, Han Soo-hyeok opened his mouth as if annoyed.
"Oh, old man."
-Did the work end well? The surroundings seem to have grown rather noisy.
"Ah, that......"
Han Soo-hyeok glanced around, tracking the Seven Demon's presence.
When he sensed the old monster's characteristically slimy presence not far away, he sneered and spoke.
"It failed."
After a brief silence, the Seventh Demon muttered as if he could not believe it.
-What do you mean it failed? With your skill, how could.......
"I don't feel like explaining every detail. If I say it failed, it failed. I'm busy, so let's talk later."
-W-wait. Surely you don't intend to end it like this?
The Seventh Demon cried out in alarm.
The opponent he had hired at enormous expense was suddenly acting as if he knew nothing, so he was burning with anxiety.
-No matter who you are, a contract is a contract. Either resume the work, or if you refuse, then the penalty fee.......
"What bullshit, old man."
But the other party was utterly indifferent.
"Got proof? You got a contract?"
-No, that was for the sake of your reputation. Was it not omitted out of respect?
"Hey, old man. You want to die?"
Han Soo-hyeok muttered in a low, sunken voice.
"I know you're peeping like a little rat. Want me to run over right now and slit your throat?"
-A-are you threatening me right now?
"Threatening, my ass. That's what all-talk bugs do....... If I say I'll kill someone, I kill them."
-.......
"So let's call the fee payment for sparing your life. Don't contact me again."
Click—
The call ended there.
"A goddamn loan shark getting cocky."
Han Soo-hyeok, who had been frowning, raised his head again and looked at the convent building.
He put a new cigarette between his lips and lit it.
Then he did not move until it had burned all the way down.
He had thought it would be enough time to find an answer to his dilemma, but his thoughts were still tangled.
"Hoo."
In the end, he turned around with a deep sigh.
Anyway, a pact was a pact.
Even if it was a promise from two generations back, an oath sworn on blood could never be ignored.
Even more so in Demonkin society, where bloodline ties were exceptionally important.......
"Is the old hag still alive?"
Han Soo-hyeok, who had been flipping through his contacts, called another fulfiller of the pact.
It had already been ten years since they had lost contact, so he was uncertain, but after a few rings, a glad voice answered.
-Heh heh, who's this?
The voice was still full of life, and the corner of Han Soo-hyeok's mouth lifted.
"Hey, you doing well?"
-An old woman lives because she can't die. And you, Bong-sik, are you well?
"Ah, come on. It's Han Soo-hyeok. Han Soo-hyeok."
But at the old name that suddenly popped out, his face stiffened.
* * *
Whether in a novel or in reality, that is the way of the world.
If there is energy, there is a grain to it, and if you do wrong, you must be punished.
[The government has named a Demonkin organization as the prime suspect in the Vatican terrorist attack. This organization has recently been rapidly expanding its forces.......]
The next afternoon, despite the medical staff's attempts to stop me, I returned to the dormitory and rushed over to the flower bud.
I had gone nearly two days without giving it blood, and I had been worried sick.
"You were hungry, right?"
Drip. Drip.
I cut deeper than usual, and more blood seeped out, but it did not hurt.
The flower bud trembled faintly and absorbed the blood frantically.
I watched with satisfaction and then murmured softly.
"Ah, so pretty......."
[.......]
The compliment was still awkward, but the response was good.
The flower bud fluttered its closed petals slightly in response.
Well, it probably meant that it was in a good mood too.
It had already passed four weeks, so the day it bloomed was not far off.
The longer I waited, the more my anticipation grew, and I was quietly excited.
Since it was called a fairy, I was hoping it might be a life-form like Tinker Bell.
[Greed snickers and says the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.]
Shut up.
I spaced out staring at the flower for a while, then got up from my seat.
It was not something I had planned, but now that one incident had ended, there was a lot to look back on.
First, I summoned the status window to check my current state.
When I muttered quietly, the space before me shimmered and a bluish window appeared.
▷ Strength: 5.0
▷ Stamina: 4.7
▷ Agility: 4.8
▷ Senses: 4.7
▷ Intelligence: 5.1
▷ Mana: 5.075 (10%)
▷ Luck: 3
Indeed, it was worthy of being called remarkable progress.
Thanks to the effects of intense physical training, Strength, Stamina, and Agility were steadily rising, and the 'Senses' stat had risen slowly for a while, but after I began training with Cheonjam Thread in parallel, its growth had steepened.
That was because it was a concept closer to combat sense than the five senses.
Mana, which had been my weakest area, had nearly doubled in capacity, as much as the time and effort I had devoted to it.
"But 10%?"
It was at that moment that I discovered a display I had not seen before.
I tilted my head and stared ahead. Then, as if responding, my vision rippled.
[The proportion of pure mana has exceeded a certain threshold, so it is now displayed additionally.]
[Some effects of pure mana are now activated.]
[Affinity against demonic energy is strengthened.]
[The power of all abilities used based on mana increases slightly.]
[The higher the proportion of pure mana, the stronger the effects.]
Whoa.
I chewed over the messages and marveled several times.
Of course, I would have to check separately how much the affinity and power had increased.
But looking at the effects alone, it seemed similar to the concept of mana quality from the original work's setting.
"At my current level, would it be about third grade?"
I was not sure, but it seemed certain that I was ahead of Baek Sa-young.
The fact that Reina called me a saint and absorbed Divine Power without side effects was probably thanks to this too.
When my thoughts reached that point, I suddenly became worried about Reina's condition.
She had her Divine Power stolen, and she had even staked her lifespan to activate her trait, so the damage must have been severe.
"So why did you go and use your power on your own like that?"
It was a deserved result, but it was still regrettable.
Still, she was nominally the third heroine.
I resolved to treat her better around the second semester, when she would join as an exchange student.
"I should buy her lots of delicious bread."
Anyway, the status window I had checked for the first time in a while was quite satisfying.
Taking everything together, the conclusion was clear.
I was growing stronger very quickly. So quickly that no precedent could be found.......
I was pouring more than twelve hours a day into training alone, so in fact I could not grow any faster than this.
However, if I asked myself whether this was truly the right answer, my answer had become 'no' as of today's events.
If Han Soo-hyeok had not suddenly disappeared.......
It would have nearly ended early with a conclusion in which all the protagonists died.
"Thinking about it makes me even angrier. Those Exorcism Society bastards."
I clenched my fist tightly, then soon shook my head.
What mattered was a countermeasure.
Now I needed to break away from solitary leveling and widen my radius of action.
I didn't know when the next crisis would come, and there were things I'd put off in the name of getting stronger.
I planned to handle the now more urgent matters one by one.
"First, starting with helping the protagonists grow......."
In truth, my standard until now had absolutely been the original work.
I had thought that matching the flow of the original work was the best course.
But after experiencing an unavoidable anomaly, my view had changed.
I should not diverge too much, but I needed to get about one step ahead.
Therefore, I intended to devote the remaining spare time until the next episode to the protagonists.
First up, naturally, had to be this world's true protagonist, Baek Sa-young.
Lately, after all, he had been showing only the opposite.
I had given him a hint about training methods, but it would take considerable time for results to appear.
This time, I was thinking of moving a bit more actively.
Growl.
First, I needed to fill my stomach.
"I still haven't eaten dinner."
Clutching my hungry stomach, I headed to the kitchen.
When I opened the cupboard, all there was was canned chicken breast and ramyeon.
Hm.
I had been avoiding carbohydrates lately to control my diet.
Was it because I was sick of the low-sodium hospital food?
Gulp—
It was just as I finally reached for the ramyeon.
[Hello. I apologize for contacting you so suddenly.]
The name 'Baek Sa-young' appeared on the phone screen.
* * *
Meanwhile, at the hospital where the security team was admitted.
It was a two-person room Lee Dae-ho and Baek Sa-young were sharing because neither wanted to be bored alone.
Baek Sa-young, whose condition had improved, began simple exercises to loosen his stiff body.
He had put his legs on the bed and was supporting his body with one finger as he did push-ups, when Lee Dae-ho finally shouted.
"Hey, let's rest at least for today. We're still patients. Your stitches are going to burst."
"I know. That's why I'm taking it easy."
"That's taking it easy?"
"Yeah. Want to join?"
"No thanks. I'm still sick."
Lee Dae-ho, despite his large frame, rolled himself up in the blanket and lay down on his side.
Then Baek Sa-young asked.
"You're in pain? Your wounds have almost all healed."
"My body's fine. But my mind's the problem. My mind. I'm still in shock because of that monster-like bastard."
"...Ah."
Baek Sa-young soon let out a small sigh and sat up.
Part of it was that Lee Dae-ho's deflated appearance was unfamiliar, but it was also because he empathized more deeply than anyone.
Baek Sa-young wiped his sweat-soaked face with a towel and spoke.
"Honestly, I'm the same. To be honest, it was frightening. Because I thought I might die like that."
"You too?"
Baek Sa-young silently nodded and reflected on that day.
Extreme speed. A simple sword trajectory that caught one off guard. An overbearing momentum that shook space itself.
Even if he was a Demonkin, he was clearly a tremendous swordsman.
So much so that he himself felt like a firefly before the sun.
Was that why?
"A boring sword. So boring it makes me yawn."
His harsh criticism seemed pinned inside Baek Sa-young's mind and would not leave.
"What the hell. Now you're gloomy too. The mood's weird."
"...Let's just sleep. We have to return tomorrow. Ha-yul already got discharged."
"Ugh. Yeah, we should. Come to think of it, that guy's really amazing. He's in the Sorcery Track—how does it make sense that he recovers faster than us?"
"He probably got hit less than us. I'm going to get some air for a bit. Sleep first."
Baek Sa-young answered casually and left the hospital room.
The suffocating feeling that had formed did not easily go away, so he wandered the quiet hallway for quite a long time.
"Ah......."
Then he suddenly stopped and fiddled with his phone.
He carefully deliberated and hesitated over and over, then bit his lower lip hard and began writing out each letter with great care.
[Hello. I apologize for contacting you so suddenly. I simply cannot find an answer on my own.]
[What is a boring sword?]
Uncharacteristically, he squeezed his eyes shut and pressed send.
Among the swordsmen he knew, only one could compare to that Demonkin.
Baek Sa-young clutched his phone as if praying and waited for a reply.