Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Taming the Cursed Wand
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“But what’s that? A wand?”
Nayoung asked Jaein.
“Ah, I bought a ton of items to study magic engraving, and this is one of them. It came with a curse, so I snagged it for cheap, but I can’t appraise it.”
“A curse?”
“The seller said it makes you lose your reason, but I’m not sure exactly what kind it is.”
After fiddling with some clothes for a while, I turned at the sound of their voices.
It looked familiar, so I examined the wand closely. It was longer than a typical wand but shorter than a staff. It was shaped like a snake coiled around it, and even from a distance, a sinister aura radiated from it.
“Ah!”
I realized what it was and shouted without thinking. It was the wand Nayoung used back when she was a villain in her previous life.
Did the curse on that thing turn her into a villain? Her life was so chaotic that I had no idea what incident led to it.
“Boss, have you seen this before?”
As I zoned out, Jaein asked.
“Yeah. I’ve seen something like it before.”
I stepped toward the wand and reached out.
“Hey! Don’t touch it! The curse…!”
“It’ll be fine. Jisuk can resist curses.”
Nayoung held Jaein back.
A ripple stirred in my mind as I lifted the wand, just like when the Fairy Queen hit me. Then a whispering voice echoed.
‘Im Seongjun, you’re gonna forgive that guy just for going to jail? He’ll come back out and mess with your mom again. Let’s kill him in prison. I’ll help you.’
‘Jaein thinks you’re a joke. I told you to take it slow, didn’t I? But she blew tens of billions because she wanted to rush it? You’ve got all the items you need now—kill her.’
The voice didn’t just speak to me; it meddled with my mind. Even knowing it was the curse and not real, rage and anxiety churned inside.
I slapped my own cheek with a sharp crack.
“…This thing turns people evil. Nayoung’s Blind barely works on me now, so it’s got to be at least an A-Rank curse.”
I wiped the blood trickling from my mouth.
“Then put it down quick!”
Jaein fidgeted beside me.
“Nah, this is perfect. It’s not uncontrollable, so I’ll take it for training.”
“What? Who uses a cursed item for training?!”
I insisted it was fine and headed out of the workshop. Jaein looked utterly baffled.
* * *
The next day, I started running Gates with the wand while also testing the new suit. Whenever an ogre showed up, I’d smash it with my wand-holding fist. The wand kept clashing with the ogres.
I thought I heard a cracking sound sometimes, but it was tough enough not to break. Solid enough to use as a bludgeon.
Each impact brought faint screams from somewhere far away.
When moving with the suit’s float spell, I lightened my body. It boosted my speed, and for attacks, I’d cancel the float to plant my feet firmly and strike the monster.
The suit noticeably improved my hunting efficiency.
The problem was the wand.
‘That woman’s a pain, right? Sure, she’s pretty, but she just drags in trouble. Kill her. You’re inside a Gate—no one will know. You’ve gotten everything you need already, haven’t you?’
‘Not mining mana stones? Hwagok Retrieval Service? President Yang? They’re stealing your money. Who in this world can you trust? Kill them all! You’ve got the power now.’
I knew the wand’s chatter was lies, but the curse fueled my anger anyway. I poured that fury into the monsters as I cleared Gates with Nayoung.
“Jisuk, you sure you’re okay?”
She noticed the dark circles under my eyes from the stress. Days of hunting under the curse had worn me down mentally.
“No worries. I need this level of pressure to level up my skills. Better to toughen up now than get caught off guard in real combat. I’m getting used to it, so layer on your Blind over a wider area.”
“Really?”
Nayoung asked worriedly, and I nodded.
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
...
...
[Resilient Mind skill level has increased from C to B.]
After days of nonstop Gate runs under two curses, both my Awakener level and skill levels went up.
“Hey, hey. Say something.”
As I adapted more, the wand talked less. Once Resilient Mind leveled up, it barely spoke at all.
“Keep going. Hey. Hey.”
I whacked the wand against a rock.
‘St… stop… stop!!’
For the first time, it said something other than curses.
“Huh? It talks without cursing? So it has a sense of self?”
‘Stop already! I’m not a toy!’
“Not a toy, but definitely a cursed item.”
‘I poured so much energy into you—how have you not killed a single person! No return on investment! If you won’t use me, pass me to someone else!’
“Hah, so the curse weakened, and now it needs some compensation.”
I made weak acidic blood seep from my palm instead of sweat.
‘Gaaah! Stop! Stop!’
The wand’s surface sizzled under my acidic blood.
“Hey, more. More. Curse me.”
I smacked the wand against the rock and said.
‘I curse you! My kin will kill you! Graaa…’
As the curse echoed in my head, a layer of the wand’s surface flaked off like dust.
Its shape stayed the same, but the color changed. Before, it had a dark, ominous aura; now it gleamed purple.
* * *
“Jaein, the curse seems gone. Can you check?”
I returned to the workshop with the wand.
“Huh? How? Appraising this wasn’t easy…”
Jaein peered at it through her monocle. She’d kept crafting items and recently acquired Appraisal. The skill let her check curses, item traits, and stats. Plenty of people around here leveled skills easily, but it wasn’t common. I just happened to be surrounded by talents like Nayoung and Jaein.
“It really… is. No curse visible. Let’s see…”
Confirming it was safe, she picked it up.
“Definitely gone. How’d you do it?”
“Just kept taking the curse until it vanished?”
“Is that… even possible…? High-level curses like this don’t budge even with expensive holy water. Anyway, it appraised fine, and the item itself was top-tier to begin with. You saved a fortune. It’s an A-Rank item. Massively boosts magic-related abilities.”
As expected, a high-grade item.
“Nayoung should use this.”
“…That thing’s worth tens of billions if you sell it.”
“She can pay me back when she makes bank later.”
* * *
“I don’t want it…”
When I offered the wand to Nayoung, she unexpectedly refused.
“Why not?”
“I’ve already received so much I can’t repay. How could I take more? This thing’s crazy expensive, right?”
“Nope. It was cursed, so she got it dirt cheap.”
“But now that it’s clean, you could sell it for a fortune.”
“Just take it. You and Sanghun need to grow fast to help me out more.”
I dropped the wand in front of her and left.
* * *
The wand packed a punch. Nayoung’s curse spread range, speed, and power doubled at least. Item power was no joke.
“Oh my god! This is amazing!”
Nayoung, who’d targeted an ogre with Blind, jumped for joy.
“Glad you like it.”
“Hey! I get you’re happy and all, but I’m gonna die here!”
While Nayoung and I chatted about the wand, Sanghun was locked in combat with the ogre.
“Quit whining. That ogre’s blind—it can’t even see you.”
Sure enough, the ogre flailed its club wildly.
“My attacks barely work!”
Sanghun’s light-wrapped sword left only shallow scratches due to lacking attack power.
“Focus it more. Unless you wanna die.”
One-on-one with an ogre was still too much for Sanghun, but with Blind and some stamina drained, it made a decent sparring partner.
I watched Sanghun fight desperately while chewing jerky. Nayoung couldn’t stop admiring the wand, eyes off Sanghun and the ogre.
“Don’t need to focus anymore to keep the curse up?”
“Ah, yeah. A little attention does it.”
“You’re not gonna help?!”
Sanghun screamed, but I didn’t.
Nayoung could solo ogres now, so prioritizing Sanghun’s level-ups and growth made sense.
After hundreds of strikes, he got the knack—scratches grew deeper. No fatal blow, but blood loss finally dropped the ogre.
“See? You did it.”
“Huff… huff…”
Sanghun lay there, too spent to reply, gasping.
“At this rate, it’ll take a week. You and Nayoung hunt duo from now on.”
“Huh? Just us? You think we can?”
Nayoung blurted in surprise.
“Honestly, you could solo already without much worry. Give Sanghun plenty of chances to fight. If it gets dicey, you step in. See ya.”
I left them and sprinted through the Gate, seeding every ogre I saw. With my leveled stats, even Twin-Head Ogres were no issue.
Our nonstop Gate pushes leveled us all up nicely. Pure leveling’s safer with slightly stronger monsters, but that doesn’t build skill. You grow most in crises.
Sanghun gained levels, bumped Light Sword a rank to hurt ogres meaningfully, and picked up Acceleration on level-up from all the life-or-death dodges. If I was an in-fighter trading blows, he was an out-boxer—swift evasion, sharp strikes.
“No clue how many potions I chugged.”
“Short on potion cash? Need money?”
“Nah, you and Nayoung sis carried me through Gates—I should be paying you. Plus, helping Dad pays well enough.”
Sanghun waved off my offer with both hands. He and Nayoung had bonded duo-hunting, calling each other bro and sis despite the one-year gap.
“Cool then.”
Exiting the Gate, I handed the recovery trackers to Hwagok Retrieval staff, but President Yang looked off.
“Boss, something wrong?”
“Jisuk, sorry about this. Payment’s gonna be a bit late.”
“No rush. I’m not hurting for cash. What’s up though?”
He’d never delayed payment before, so it felt weird.
“Well… we had a little trouble with a material supplier. No issue with the goods, but they’re nitpicking. And they’re holding payment on delivered stuff with bogus excuses.”
“Can’t sell to other firms?”
“Feels like collusion—others won’t even start deals. Probably ’cause we’ve grown too fast lately; they wanna squeeze more cash. I could eat some loss, but it’s getting out of hand.”
“Huh. Mind if I tag along?”
“Oh, no need to trouble yourself. I’ll handle the talk.”
But President Yang’s complexion worsened daily. The bullying was worse than thought—funds tied up, materials piling in the warehouse.
“Boss, let’s go together.”
We’d grown close; I couldn’t ignore it.
“Jisuk, sorry. But a few big corps control material distribution—dunno if it’ll work.”
We visited the material supplier together.