The Tiger Curse (1)
“…So in addition to China’s Central Heroes Committee and Mexico’s City Cartel, high-rankers from the United States and Russia have also been detected making moves.”
Mo Jeong-gyeon stared out the window, a long pipe clenched between her lips.
Her subordinate was delivering a report on various global trends. Lately, the domestic situation had become the biggest issue because of one thing after another.
“Greece is also demanding a full investigation while claiming exclusive rights over—”
“Sparrows have become rather scarce these days, don’t you think?”
Mo Jeong-gyeon suddenly tossed out a completely unrelated remark. The secretary, long accustomed to her ways, stopped the report and quietly listened to her monologue.
“When I was a child, the roadside trees were full of them. I wonder where they all disappeared to.”
“Is that so?”
Huu—
Thick smoke billowed outward.
“Yet the sparrows that should return never do, while only strange sparrows from across the sea keep arriving. How troublesome.”
“……”
“Still, it might prove entertaining in its own way. Invasive species always cause chaos at first, but the environment eventually adapts. Just as we no longer see bullfrogs or spotted lanternflies.”
Mo Jeong-gyeon’s gaze remained fixed on the white smoke. She was looking at a place far from here.
“And just in time, someone has begun to run. Far more vigorously than I had hoped.”
Only then did the secretary realize who she was speaking of. Not long ago, on her orders, he had delivered a cursed item to the president’s office.
“Such greed. What an insolent creature.”
Despite her words, her voice carried clear amusement.
“But that is precisely what makes it so fun. You never know which way he will leap.”
Mo Jeong-gyeon’s eyes curved gently.
“Yes. Go ahead and temper yourself. Let us see how sharp and how solid you can become. What manner of White Tiger you might become?”
Huuuu—
The dense smoke hung in the air, white as a white tiger’s fur.
Kim Min-jung felt a chill the moment Lee Hyun gripped Brutus’s Dagger.
He looked like a man already consumed by a curse.
Madness flickered in his eyes.
She called out to him in alarm, but—
Thud!
The dagger was already buried in the left side of his chest.
“……!”
She was so shocked that no scream escaped her.
In that instant—
Flash!
A burst of light poured from the dagger and flooded the private training room.
Lee Hyun felt his consciousness being dragged somewhere far away.
Curse Immunity (SS) nullifies every curse contained within Brutus's Dagger.
The curse Hwanma Mama has been weakened.
The fusion of curse talismans seals the wound on your body.
Hwanma Mama glares with cold eyes like a tiger stalking prey in the depths of the forest.
Hwanma Mama invites you to the place where it dwells.
The Imaginary World manifests!
When he opened his eyes amid the intense flash of light, Lee Hyun found himself on a mountain slope.
A dense forest of pine and fir trees common in Korea stretched before him. Colorful ropes and cloths hung everywhere, glowing faintly. Stone cairns dotted the ground, each accompanied by offering bowls and incense burners.
It was a Seonangdang, the kind of mountain shrine one might find in an old countryside village. The sun had already set, leaving only thick darkness.
“Did I… make it in properly?”
Lee Hyun let out a small sigh of relief and ran a hand through his hair.
Stabbing his own heart with Brutus’s Dagger had been a gamble even for him. Yet he had not wanted to accept Mo Jeong-gyeon’s teaching the ordinary way. There would surely be things he would miss if he did.
He wanted to devour it all.
So he had thrown the dice. Fortunately, it seemed to have worked.
However…
“I can’t see it anywhere. Where is the thing hiding?”
It felt as though something was watching him from a concealed spot. He would have to search the mountain.
Lee Hyun looked down at himself. His limbs were intact. The clothes and equipment he wore were identical to reality.
“My physical senses feel the same… It seems the world isn’t drastically different from the real one.”
Still, this was the world of the mind. There would certainly be differences, so he had to remain cautious.
He drew both axes and scanned the surroundings, about to take a step when—
Combat Sense (B) sharpens its edge!
A shiver ran down the back of his neck. Lee Hyun spun around.
Boom!
‘Ice?’
The moment he swung his axe upward, ice crystals scattered. The attribute did not match Hwanma Mama at all, and Lee Hyun’s eyes widened slightly. At the same time—
Whirr!
The axe in his right hand, Sikcheol, flew toward the presence with a ferocious roar.
Bwoong!
Crackle—!
Dueogsini's Rage strikes!
Thunderous blue-white lightning exploded. Several thick pine trees shattered and scattered.
Not far from where Sikcheol had embedded itself, a woman stood with elegant poise.
A pure-white dress reminiscent of medieval Europe. Silver hair that fluttered like snowflakes. A face Lee Hyun knew all too well.
A face that absolutely should not be here.
“…Snow Queen?”
“It has been a long time, human.”
“……!”
The Snow Queen smiled chillingly, like a sheet of ice.
“I wondered if you might have forgotten this queen’s face… Fortunately, it seems you still remember.”
Cold snowflakes began to whirl.
“Good. That way it will be more entertaining to freeze you solid and display you in my palace.”
Lee Hyun instantly understood how she could exist inside his mental world.
It’s because she awakened. When I created the Ice Jade Heart and Snow Soul Completion using her narrative.
“Correct. This queen is grateful to you in that regard. I was meant to remain in eternal slumber, yet thanks to your help I have opened my eyes once more.”
The Snow Queen twisted her lips as she read his thoughts.
“Did you just read my surface consciousness?”
“A great deal is already shared between you and me. You are this queen, and this queen is you. Do not resent it. After all, you are the one who created this situation.”
“So what do you want to say?”
Crackle! Crackle-crackle!
Lee Hyun raised Dueogsini’s fury. Blue-white lightning sparked violently.
“Are you here to take revenge for the past?”
He was ready to fight her at any moment. He did not know when Hwanma Mama, hiding somewhere on the slope, would strike him, but the score he needed to settle with the Snow Queen could not be postponed either.
However, the Snow Queen merely smiled bitterly and shook her head.
“If I could, I would. But it would be meaningless.”
“What?”
“The version of me standing here is nothing more than a remnant left behind.”
“……”
Her voice carried self-mockery.
“Right now this queen is merely a parasite living off you. Killing you would bring me no benefit whatsoever.”
“No benefit?”
“Did I not tell you? You are this queen, and this queen is you. If you die, the foothold I have only just found will vanish as well.”
“For someone who claims that, the attack just now was full of killing intent.”
“Hmph! Considering how brutally you trampled this queen’s dignity, that small act of venting can be considered cute.”
The Snow Queen crossed her arms and snorted.
Yet—
“You’d better watch how far you push your nonsense, Snow Queen.”
Lee Hyun did not like her attitude one bit.
Crackle—!!
Lightning boiled like hellfire.
“If I weren’t using your narrative as well, I would want to tear you apart right this second.”
He had not forgotten. The swirling snow. The rising ice. The comrades freezing to death within it.
And the image of his dead older brother.
Even now he occasionally had nightmares about that day. Watching her act like a victim was utterly repulsive.
But—
“That is precisely why.”
The Snow Queen twisted her lips again.
“What?”
“The hatred piled between us pierces the heavens, does it not? You lost your comrades to me. I lost my people to you.”
“……”
“Yet now you are using my power to awaken your own potential, while I am regaining my identity by borrowing your strength.”
Lee Hyun stared at her silently.
“What do you think that means?”
“We each take only the benefits the other can provide?”
The Snow Queen nodded.
“Exactly. Since a false alliance would be distasteful, let us maintain a purely strategic relationship.”
Lee Hyun opened his Fiery Golden Eyes wide.
[TRUE]
Because this was the mental world, the Snow Queen’s thoughts were easy to read.
“Oh? So those are the eyes of the one called the Great Sage the Equal of Heaven? I have heard of them. Many chief gods suffered greatly because of those eyes.”
Lee Hyun slowly lowered both axes.
An uncomfortable strategic relationship. That distance seemed just right for the two of them.
“Then I can take that as permission to make fuller use of your narrative from now on?”
“Of course. I will cooperate as well, so awaken it as much as you like. You may even take it as your main attribute… How about it? The sight of all the snow and ice in the world adoring you. Would that not be utterly enchanting?”
Lee Hyun simply ignored the latter half.
“And what do you gain?”
“What a dull man you are.”
The Snow Queen crossed her arms and lifted her chin with elegant pride.
“I wish to build my palace, even if small, within a corner of your mental world.”
Whoooosh!
At that moment the clouds covering the moon parted slightly, revealing a snow-covered mountain bathed in white.
“It seems I will need the landowner’s permission to create something like that.”
The Snow Queen gazed at the crystal-clear ice palace situated halfway up the snowy mountain.
“It will not be a bad deal for you either. The stronger and more solid that palace becomes, the thicker my narrative will grow. A mutually beneficial relationship. What do you say?”
Lee Hyun vaguely imagined what kind of monsters might be swarming inside that ice palace.
How similar would it be to the day he had opened its gates with his comrades?
So she wants to build her dungeon inside my mental world… I can’t decide if she’s crazy or just insane.
But one thing was certain.
The day that Ice Palace was completed, the Snow Queen would be reborn as well.
“And after that you intend to devour me whole, correct?”
That was why he could see the true intention hidden behind the agreement.
Yet the Snow Queen only continued to smile.
Tsk.
Lee Hyun clicked his tongue and nodded.
“Fine. Let’s do it. It will be greatly helpful to me as well. Besides… I have my eye on your narrative too.”
A declaration that, if the chance arose, he would kill her again and claim the entire narrative for himself.
The Snow Queen’s lofty smile deepened.
“Then make sure you leave no openings.”
“You watch your back as well.”
“Hohohoho… I was growing bored trapped here all alone, but now it looks like things will become very entertaining.”
You have successfully completed the sudden event: Encounter with the Snow Queen.
As a reward, your magic power stat increases by 10.
Your narrative connection with the Snow Queen deepens. You begin to possess the origin of the Snow Queen.
Affinity with ice-based attributes increases.
The Snow Queen narrative within your magic power is strengthened. It carries her will, gradually granting divinity to your magic power.
From now on, your magic power begins to possess its own spirituality!
Magic power possessing spirituality meant that it would now move on its own even without Lee Hyun’s conscious direction. At the same time, his detection range had widened dramatically. Far away in the middle of the snowy field, he could see a single footprint.
“Truly a meaningful day. Therefore, in that spirit—”
The Snow Queen flicked her fingers lightly.
“It would be best to drive out all uninvited guests besides ourselves!”
Snap!
Whiiiir!
A snowstorm suddenly raged across the previously silent mountain slope.
In that instant—
Swish!
A shadow that had been hiding in the darkness lunged at Lee Hyun.
Hwanma Mama appears!
Its speed was astonishingly agile for its massive size. The moment it realized its ambush had been detected, it moved.
Lee Hyun, who had already sensed the assassin through his heightened senses, responded instantly.
Dueogsini's Fury is revealed!
Crackle—!!
As he turned, he brought out his blood-crossed axes and crossed them in an X in front of his chest.
Boom—!!
Enormous power. Lee Hyun was violently thrown back, rolling several meters across the ground.
But—
Dueogsini's Collar flutters and deflects the attack!
Crackle!
Lee Hyun had already woven a dense barrier of lightning around himself. He rose to his feet as if nothing had happened and swung the axe in his right hand upward from below.
Flash!
Blue-white lightning erupted like a volcano, raking across the left eye of the house-sized tiger that had reappeared and was leaping at him once more.
Krrraaawr!
Hwanma Mama roars fiercely in agony!
A curse assaults you.
Curse Immunity (SS) nullifies the curse once again.
“I don’t know where you came from, but you have quite the ferocious temper. This should be fun to hunt.”
The Snow Queen waved her hand lightly. Dozens of icicles formed in the air and rained down on the tiger.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Yet the beast dodged every attack with agile movements that belied its size. It kicked off the ground once more, launching another heavy assault.
Shwaaaack!
The strike carried the crushing weight of something that sought to trample the entire world.
It’s strong. Far stronger than I expected. The Mountain Deity really intends to put me through the wringer.
This must be the dignity of the Mountain Lord, the king that rules the mountains alone.
It was dozens of times more intense than what he had felt from the dagger.
One opening and he would die.
Yet Lee Hyun found himself wanting to possess that very dignity.
“They say the goblins in old tales wore clothes made of tiger skin… Shall I make myself a proper outfit while I’m at it?”
Swish—
This time Lee Hyun took the initiative and charged.
Frenzied Strike (E) begins!
The tiger, displeased by his attitude, opened its maw wide and lunged.
And so—
Booom—!!
The goblin and the mountain lord collided.