Chapter 89
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 89
Thanks to Greed's constant chattering, I managed to get my crooked intentions back under control.
If that bastard likes something, it always leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
"Fine."
Leaving the Azure Tiger to die would be a bit much.
It wasn't some harmful creature. It was the beast that had guarded half of Geumgangsan for nearly five hundred years.
And saving it was the only way to secure Joo A-rin's power-up.
More precisely, it would help Hae-rin grow.
Hae-rin was a pet destined to play a major role later. If I created a variable now for short-term gain, it might only spawn another variable.
Hadn't I already learned through the Han Soo-hyeok incident just how dangerous variables born from other variables could be?
Hmm.
Still, out of lingering regret, I ran my hand over the Azure Tiger's hide a few more times.
The moment I did, the Azure Tiger's body twitched.
"......."
Did it notice? Nah, no way.
It was probably just squirming because its body was uncomfortable.
I clicked my tongue, then put some distance between us and spoke to Joo A-rin.
"We need to hurry. Otherwise, that thing dies."
Despite telling her to hurry, my voice came out surprisingly calm.
['Greed' says that following one's instincts is the shortest path to happiness.......]
Shut up.
Anyway, Joo A-rin, who had no way of knowing the full story, approached Hae-rin and whispered softly.
"You can do it, right?"
Hae-rin nodded vigorously, then, freed from its restraints, approached the Azure Tiger sprawled on the ground.
Grrrrrr-
Grrr.
At the threshold between life and death, a Divine Beast and a spiritual creature met.
In truth, the distinction between them was only a matter of where their true bodies resided. As inhuman beings possessing numinous energy, they seemed to understand each other to some degree with just a brief meeting of eyes.
Grrrng.
The Azure Tiger weakly buried its head between its front paws.
It had realized that clinging to pride would leave it with nothing, and so it permitted the approach.
Hae-rin let out a small cry, as if to say not to worry, and moved toward the nape of the Azure Tiger, which was more than three times its own size.
It opened its mouth wide—chomp—and began sucking out the corrupted mana and remnants of sinister energy remaining in the Azure Tiger's body.
This was something only Hae-rin could do.
"As expected of a direct descendant of the Haetae."
The first Divine Beast to form a bond with the Joo family's founding head was none other than the Haetae.
That was because the Haetae was a truth-seeking Divine Beast that had descended into the human world to condemn evil and set the world right.
As a direct descendant who had inherited its ancestor's blood intact, Hae-rin displayed that ability without reservation.
Before long, peace began to settle over the Azure Tiger's face, which had been marred by pain.
Grrrrr?
This good deed also became a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Hae-rin.
The purified mana did not simply vanish; it settled fully within Hae-rin's body.
Because their attributes matched, there was no energy to discard.
Its body grew larger than before, reaching the size of a real lion, and the scales that had only sprouted on its chest now extended down to its abdomen.
"Ah......."
Joo A-rin, who had been watching that astonishing growth in real time, let out a soft exclamation, as if overcome with emotion.
I could readily sympathize with her unusual feelings.
For Joo A-rin, Hae-rin had long been nothing short of a sore spot.
Though nowadays she doted on it more than herself, treating it as the object of her affection second only to Joo Seol-hwa.
But the young Joo A-rin had not been like that.
She had resented Hae-rin for growing slower and being weaker than the Divine Beasts of other successors.
For a child living a life on the run, there was no greater pain than waiting.
Every day, she pushed Hae-rin to its limits in training, and as a result, Hae-rin ended up gravely injured.
Joo A-rin blamed herself belatedly and turned her path toward ice.
In the Joo family, a summoner with a weak summoned beast was treated as worthless, but she devoted herself solely to ice, resolving to fill that gap through her own efforts.
So at this moment, her surging emotions were only natural.
This was the moment of revival that both summoner and summoned beast had desperately wished for.
"Looks like doing a good deed paid off pretty handsomely. Congratulations."
I couldn't make a big fuss, but I congratulated her sincerely.
"This is also thanks to you....... No, isn't it?"
"Of course not. I didn't know this would happen either. It's just its own good fortune."
Even though I could have taken credit for it, I deliberately didn't.
Because that was the truth.
All I had done was help keep things from straying too far from the original story's flow.
It's best not to overdo anything.
To change the subject and wrap things up at the same time, I spoke to Joo A-rin.
"If you want points, you should scan it with your watch before the purification is finished."
"Ah,"
Joo A-rin carefully approached the Azure Tiger and recorded the remnants of the Yukhon.
Since she had taken down the strongest thought-form, she should be able to get at least fifteen points.
Either way, I thought this episode had ended without any major trouble.
Grrrrr-
That was, if Hae-rin hadn't suddenly staggered backward.
"What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Joo A-rin, noticing Hae-rin's abnormal symptoms, hurried over.
"What the."
I was just as flustered.
Stopping before the purification was complete was not part of the plan.
After checking Hae-rin's condition, Joo A-rin soon spoke to me with a troubled expression.
"It can't go any further. It seems to have absorbed too much mana in too short a time."
"......Can't go any further?"
What the hell.
Just as an involuntary laugh escaped me, a hypothesis flashed through my mind.
What if the thought-form had become stronger than in the original, and the amount of corrupted mana had increased along with it?
Then it made sense.
Even in the original, it had barely managed to purify it at the very end.......
"Good grief."
Things had gone sideways again.
With a bitter smile, I looked at the Azure Tiger's face, where hope had flickered and then faded.
Since it had recovered to some extent, its complexion was better than before, but honestly, it was hard to expect it to recover on its own.
Corrupted mana was like cancer cells. If you didn't root it out completely, it would grow in strength again.
And purification was something only Hae-rin could do, so there was no way to help.......
['Greed' asks what there is to agonize over. It says we've already raised the little lion, so we should hurry up and finish it off.]
......Wait.
It was at that moment that a decent idea suddenly came to mind.
Purification or whatever, the key was extracting the sinister energy from its body.
And I had an item that could play a similar role. No, a pet.
Of course, the hide was tempting, and this was a chance to get it for free.
Still, it seemed only polite to make one last attempt, so I spoke to Greed.
"Hey. Eat some of that."
['Greed' asks what nonsense I'm talking about. It says it is the sovereign of demons, absorbing only Demonic Energy.......]
No, you don't have to actually eat it. Just suck it out and spit it back up.
And Demonic Energy or corrupted mana, they're both equally filthy.
['Greed' says that as a sublime existence, it cannot be expected to handle such lowly energy.......]
Ah, no need for a long speech.
Can you do it or not? Just tell me that.
That family's pet managed it just fine, so are you saying you can't?
['Greed' says that comparing it to a mere Divine Beast is an insult. It says it can do it, but.......]
Oh yeah? Then that settles it.
Just so you know, if you're going to do it, do it properly.
Don't embarrass yourself by giving up halfway.
[.......]
"What do we do now?"
"I'll give it a try."
"You? But if you do that......."
"We just need to expel it, right? It'll be fine."
Despite Joo A-rin's attempts to stop me, I approached the Azure Tiger.
Maybe it interpreted my approach differently, because it squeezed its eyes shut with a resigned expression.
"What kind of spiritual creature gives up this fast? You've lived so long that you're sick of the world now?"
I cracked a pointless joke and chuckled, then placed my right hand on its back.
[Activating 'Auxiliary Authority 1'.]
Setting aside the soft feel of its fur, I activated the authority without hesitation.
Chomp.
[Absorbing the corrupted mana remaining in the Azure Tiger's body.]
Then, amid the ticklish suction against my palm, I felt all sorts of negative emotions.
Depression and loneliness. Impatience, anxiety, and rage.
They were the kind of things that felt unpleasant even at a passing touch, so my face naturally twisted into a frown.
[Bleeegh.]
Hey, it's not bad enough to throw up over, man.
Get a grip. If you're doing this, do it right.
I stared at the veins bulging black in my right arm and gritted my teeth, enduring.
About three minutes passed like that.
Maybe because Hae-rin had already purified almost all of it, it didn't take long.
[All corrupted mana dwelling in the Azure Tiger's body has been purified.]
As soon as I saw the message, I pulled my hand away.
Immediately after, I extended it behind me and activated Auxiliary Authority 2, releasing the accumulated energy.
CRACKLE—
A blackish energy stretched across the field and out toward the sea.
['Greed' spits repeatedly, saying it was the worst energy it has ever tasted in its life.]
Thanks to that, you saved a person. No, a tiger.
I patted my right hand soothingly and checked the Azure Tiger's condition.
Grrrrng!
But is this what it feels like to get hit by a car?
In an instant, a flash of blue light filled my vision, and the Azure Tiger vanished.
I sensed something lunging at me, but I couldn't withstand the heavy weight and toppled flat onto my back.
Then I felt something like a rough scouring pad soaked in sticky liquid scraping across my face.
Lick, lick-
The Azure Tiger, overwhelmed with gratitude, had pounced on me and was licking my face.
"What the—you're not even a dog, you're a spiritual creature......."
I resisted and flailed my arms, but its strength was impossible to overcome, and I was subjected to the licking for quite a long time.
Afterward, the Azure Tiger also went over to Hae-rin and rubbed its body against it, expressing its thanks.
"You're pretty popular, aren't you?"
Joo A-rin, who had been silently watching, glanced sideways at me and chuckled.
I was about to tell her that it might be her turn next, but my vision suddenly swam.
Messages poured down like a sudden shower, and I looked up at the empty air.
[Main Quest #7 — Joo A-rin's Meeting with the Mountain Lord — Achieved]
[As a reward, 25 days are added to your Remaining Time.]
[As a reward, 40 SP is provided.]
[Achievement-496: The First Human to Earn the Azure Tiger's Favor]
[As a reward, 3 days are added to your Remaining Time.]
[As a reward, 10SP is provided.]
[Achievement-819: Helper of the Protagonists]
[Without yielding to the distorted development, you helped the three protagonists Baek Sa-young, Joo A-rin, and Cheon Seo-yoon.]
[As a reward, 15 days are added to your Remaining Time.]
[As a reward, 20SP is provided.]
[Remaining Time: 92 days 19 hours 54 minutes]
[Remaining SP: 230]
Too many messages appeared at once, and my vision swam.
But each one was the fruit of the sweat I had shed and the anguish I had endured.......
I was smiling with indescribable satisfaction when it happened.
[You have reached 200SP.]
[The boundary of Causality briefly weakens.]
[A special reward is granted.]
"......Huh?"
In an instant, a small hole opened in the air, and a little slip of paper fell out.
Pushing aside a strange sense of déjà vu, I quickly snatched it up.
It was a plain white piece of paper, nothing special, the first I had held in a very long time.
I remembered receiving one as soon as I hit 100SP, back during the Final Occupation Battle.......
Thinking it was information related to Yoo So-young, I had rushed over excitedly, only to end up at some pawnshop, and what I got there was Greed.
.......
Honestly, I hadn't paid attention to SP since then.
I was too busy just trying to survive to have time to save any up.
And with the original story's distortions already too much to handle, I had put it off, worried I might get dragged into another strange incident.
But this time, I had no choice but to receive it.
I had gained 75SP all at once, so I hadn't had a moment to react.
"Well, this is......."
"Did something happen?"
"No. Get ready to head out soon. I'm going to rest for a bit."
I pretended nothing was wrong and put some distance between myself and Joo A-rin.
I intended to quietly check the note.
What would be written on it this time?
With a heart half full of anticipation and half full of fear, I unfolded the note.
"Hm?"
But it wasn't writing.
In the center of the white paper was simply a pattern of dozens of black vertical lines arranged in a row.
"A barcode?"
Yeah, a barcode.
It was the moment I felt it resembled a barcode.
[You have acquired a fragment of the Akashic Record, the memory archive of the World Setting.]
[You have gained an opportunity to take one step closer to the hidden truth.]
[You will be moved for Appraisal in 5 seconds.]
[5]
[4]
.
.
"......Now?"