My Unyielding Nok
The deer had been there from the beginning. Back when the trees weren't so tall. In that small forest filled with ordinary trees, the deer lived day after day in pure bliss.
Frolicking here and there on adventures, munching on delicious fruits, drinking cool, clean water. At night, it returned to its burrow under the trees and fell asleep. It didn't know who its parents were, but it was too happy to even wonder.
Then a strange human came to live in the forest, but there was no harm done—in fact, when it twisted its ankle, the human healed it. A kind person. Sometimes the human would stroke its head and speak in a gentle voice. It couldn't understand the words, but the affection in that voice was so warm.
All it wanted was for those happy days to last forever.
But despair came swiftly. When the deer grew larger than a human, tall enough to nibble leaves from the treetops, other humans arrived. No—they looked human, but weren't.
Just as the forest's human resident had stepped away, the intruder approached the deer, seized it, and cast a curse. The deer trembled in agony, and the fiend vanished with a horrific grin.
Soon after, when the forest dweller returned, the deer had become an incarnation of hatred, destroying everything in its path without distinction. With every step, all things withered and crumbled. Trees died, streams dried up. Leaves rained down, whipped by the wind. The muddy ground reeked of blood.
And so the human made a choice. To seal the deer away.
He carved marks into the growing trees to form a barrier, subdued the rampaging beast, and imprisoned it beneath the earth. He refined the seal over centuries, ensuring it couldn't escape until someone released it.
He couldn't bring himself to kill the deer he'd shared so many years with. And so, the deer was forgotten. For a very, very long time. Until the one who sealed it died, and the trees reached the sky.
* * *
Through the connected channel, fragmented memories flooded in, amplified by the deer's emotions.
Cheon Ji-hoo opened his closed eyes and gazed down at the deer with impassive blue orbs.
Bound by sacred chains, unable to move, the beast glared up with murderous red eyes.
"A parasite. A worm was eating away at your insides."
He murmured. In the deer's memories, he'd seen the chilling aura of that intruder. It was a demon. What it had implanted was heartworm, a spell demons favored—one that latched onto a being's core or heart and led it to corruption. For a pure creature like this deer, the fall had been all too easy.
Unlike the demons he'd encountered before.
'Sealed for so long with its life suspended, it never fully succumbed.'
Whoever had done the sealing had crafted it masterfully. The previous demons had been wholly consumed by their heartworms—no saving them. If they'd resisted, it wouldn't have taken hold so quickly.
"Then endure it. It's going to hurt like hell."
Cheon Ji-hoo deployed his magic without delay. A massive golden magic circle began to form around the deer's head. Light flashed as the halo spun. He adjusted its form in real-time to match the deer's essence and body, then began tracking the heartworm.
Beams from the circle pierced the deer, seizing the worm clinging to its core. It thrashed violently, but when he clenched his fist indifferently, it was dragged out in a blaze of light.
-GRAAAAAAAH!!-
From the deer's gaping maw erupted a jet-black centipede as massive as the beast itself. How much power had it siphoned to grow so enormous?
Cheon Ji-hoo extended his hand. The chains binding the deer unraveled and redirected, coiling around the writhing worm and crushing it tight. He reached out again. The golden halo spun rapidly, drawing another circle. Blinding weapons burst forth, piercing the worm's body and reducing it to ash.
But he didn't stop there. Spreading his arms wide, he clapped with a thunderous boom.
RUMBLE.
Two enormous hands rose from the ground via Golem Creation, smashing the remnants of the worm's flesh to pulp. Only then did he dispel the spell and exhale deeply.
It had been ages since he'd seen a heartworm this size. Not since that idiot dragon fell victim to one.
Turning to the deer, he saw it collapsed on the ground, trembling uncontrollably. The pain of extraction and the guilt of its past actions crashed over it at once.
-It hurts, hurts, hurts... Sorry, so sorry...
A simple string of anguished words.
Cheon Ji-hoo spoke to the suffering creature.
"Hey."
-Hurts, hurts... It hurts so much...
"Snap out of it. Does it still hurt? Think about it."
At his words, the deer whimpered a bit longer, then snapped its eyes open and rose. Its massive bulk stirred gusts of fierce wind just from standing.
-Huh? It doesn't hurt anymore!
"I killed the worm in your heart. No more pain."
-Th-thank you...
The deer bowed its head deeply. But even with the heartworm gone, the damage to its body was severe. Much of its power had been drained, and now it was slowly crumbling.
Seeing this, Cheon Ji-hoo said,
"You just thanked me."
-Uh, yeah?
"How about a subordination contract, then?"
-Con-con-tract? What's that?
"Something good. A chance to leave this forest."
-Leave the forest? But I like the forest...
"Stay like this, and you'll crumble away to nothing."
To Cheon Ji-hoo, the deer's condition looked dire. Chunks were sloughing off its body; even its blood no longer ran red. Too much of its essence had been torn away with the worm—it couldn't repair itself and would soon dissipate.
Yet he sensed its potential. Even depleted, it held S-rank mana, and its lack of cunning was a plus. Overly clever types never listened anyway.
Plus, deer symbolized luck and good omens. Forest guardian and guide. Grown strong on the woods' vital energy over ages, it'd prove invaluable for tracking and hunting demons ahead.
-Then I'll go!
"Very well... Don't resist. Accept it."
Standing before the deer, Cheon Ji-hoo spread his arms. A vast green magic circle unfurled above its head. Green light poured from it, seeping into the beast.
The spell he invoked was Contract, a collaboration of summoning and necromancy schools. It required mutual agreement, binding souls with each other's mana.
"What I want is your absolute subordination. In exchange, I offer preservation of your existence."
A fair trade. He'd anchor the deer's being to reality; in return, unwavering obedience.
The deer pondered briefly, then gave up thinking and nodded vigorously, whipping up a gale.
-Yeah! Nice to meet ya!
"Then the Contract is sealed."
As his words ended, the green circle enveloped the deer. Cheon Ji-hoo felt a massive drain on his mana—fueling the deer's reconstruction and preservation. He couldn't drag that bulk outside...
Besides, its core still lurked in the heart.
"Guess I need to name you. 'Deer' won't cut it."
After a moment's thought, he spoke.
"Nok."
I'll call you Nok—the green one.
His murmur escaped aloud, and the circle around Nok blazed white, shrinking steadily. Soon, Nok was the size of an ordinary deer.
When the light faded, Nok gleamed with lustrous sheen—a magnificent creature. Its broken antlers had regrown imposingly; its faintly verdant fur rippled softly in the breeze.
-My name! Nok!
"That's right. Nok."
-Nok nok!
Thrilled, Nok spun in gleeful circles, then realized it was floating and flailed.
-My, fe-eet! They won't touch the ground! What do I do?!
"Hold still. I'll lower you."
Cheon Ji-hoo flew up, plopped onto Nok's back, and snapped his fingers for Spatial Transfer.
Upon touching solid earth, Nok sighed in relief—more than at the changed scenery.
-Phew~!
"Hyperactive, aren't you."
-What's hyperactive?
"Energetic."
-What's energetic?
"...Just go. That way—the rift exit."
Escaping the endless questions, he pointed toward the exit and reinforced his mental barriers.
Now mana-linked, they could communicate without an open channel.
Bounding excitedly through the devastated forest—trees crumbled, streams stilled—Nok relished the nostalgic freedom.
Cheon Ji-hoo shifted sideways on its back and yawned lazily. A lone deer traversing a bomb-cratered wasteland, white-haired mage astride—like a scene from the wrong era.
A brief silence enveloped them, but it didn't last.
-Whoa! Humans!
"Ha... What now."
"Cheon Ji-hoo! I've come to kill you!"
"What's with that deer?"
"Doesn't matter. Kill 'em all and get out."
Four men and women blocked their path.
* * *
Not long after Cheon Ji-hoo entered the S-rank rift, Hong Ji-hwa had set up camp at the entrance, waiting.
Even she couldn't solo an S-rank rift. Why risk it? Even S-rank hunters raided in teams.
"Tch, damn it."
An elite like her babysitting? That was grunt work for Lee Joo-hwan.
As she scrolled her phone, commotion erupted ahead. Looking up, she saw staff confronting robed suspects.
"You can't enter now. Orders are to restrict access..."
"Can't be helped, then."
SLASH!
Two staffers' heads rolled across the ground.
Hong Ji-hwa fired off an emergency HCU request and leaped up, battle-ready. Crimson hellfire cloaked her as two of the six drew sword and spear, charging with feral killing intent—clearly dismissing her as easy prey.
But their strikes aiming for her neck halted against her inferno.
Spitting red flames, she growled,
"Fuck, do I look like a pushover lately...? You little shits... Kill someone in front of me and now you wanna treat me like trash?"
Trouble—unknown heavyweights. She detonated her hellfire; the pair retreated swiftly.
"We'll handle her. The rest, into the rift—kill him!"
They scattered: two pressing her, the other four bypassing toward the rift.
Hong Ji-hwa didn't block all four. She just stopped the two coming at her and muttered,
"You picked the wrong fight."
The real monster was inside.