ETVC C26

Chapter 26

“The curse identified is twofold: persistent pain, and disturbances of sleep. The former is not so grievous, yet the latter—ah, that was woven with great care. Thus, the pain may be eased by strong draughts of medicine, but for sleep, no potion shall avail you much. I must tell you this plainly: curses are erratic, and manifest differently for each sufferer. Only through endurance shall you come to know its true shape. My recommendation is this—seek out a master of curse-breaking with all haste.”

Easier said than done. Healers were scarce enough, yet rarer still were shamans, and rarer even than they, those few able to unravel curses. But chiding the physician would gain me nothing, so I resolved to close the matter swiftly.

“Then as for my wounds—no great concern there?”

“None at all. On that score you may rest easy. Complete one final examination upon the morrow, and you may be discharged.”

Having concluded his duty, the physician vanished like the wind. I had not been long awake, yet already drowsiness weighed me down again. Perhaps for that reason, the reality of being cursed did not fully strike me. I had slept well enough before, after all.

If I can still sleep, is that not a blessing? Perhaps I am simply not so susceptible.

Yet the moment I closed my eyes, I learnt how foolish a hope that was.

〈Aaaah!〉
〈Save us!〉

The dream came first as a slaughter—monsters and other races tearing through helpless men and women. And I, frozen, stood idle, a fool. I screamed with them, I flung myself forward to save the dying—yet every attempt failed. Their blood was shed while I was spared.

“This is but a dream.”

The senses felt real, yet I knew—this was dream. And still, I could not wake. The scene merely shifted.

〈Hyung, why did you kill me?〉

My younger brother, Seo Gogyul, clutched at me with ghostly arms.

“This is a dream.”

〈We were the only family each other had. Do you not remember how I suffered, for your loneliness’ sake?〉

“No. I did not kill you. It was an accident.”

〈You could have saved me. That is what they call willful negligence. How do you fare now, without me? Do you yet beg for love, crawling through life?〉

“No… I did not wish to die, either. I am sorry.”

I ceased resisting, collapsing to the ground. As I sank deeper, drowning in that mire from which there was no escape, someone touched me. And the chains fell away.

“Ah!”

I woke drenched in sweat, body heavier than before. Sleep had given me no rest, only weariness multiplied.

Soohyuk endured this torment for a month entire? Truly remarkable.

My body begged for rest, but I dreaded sleep anew. Shaking my head to fight the haze, I forced my eyes open.

“You are awake.”

From the washroom, where I had thought him absent, Baek Soohyuk emerged, a damp towel in hand.

What is that for?

“You sweated profusely. Let me wipe you down.”

Though he had declared he would no longer treat me as kin, this—this bordered on overfamiliarity. He knew no boundary.

“Do not touch me.”

My voice was faint, thinned of all strength. So tightly had I clenched my jaw, so taut my throat, that it rasped hoarse. Ignoring my feeble protest, he wiped my face with the towel. I had not the strength to push him away—and truthfully, I did not wish to.

Was it perhaps his hand I felt, breaking the nightmare’s grip?

There had been no one else in the chamber. The thought seemed plausible—that he had sat vigil, watching my restless sleep, reaching out when I was lost. In my mind, the image of his quiet tending overlapped with the raging figure of Seo Gogyul, and oddly, I felt comforted. Comforted, by one who was not even truly my brother.

“I am searching for a curse-breaker. Endure a little longer.”

At those words, the turmoil in my chest stilled. The curse remained, the torment would return, yet the assurance soothed me all the same.

Knock, knock.

As he returned the towel to the washroom, a knock sounded at the door.

“Come in.”

Meow!

The door burst open, and my cat leapt straight at me, near knocking me flat.

“Meow?”

“Hyung!”

“Woojin-ssi, you are awake, yes?”

Ryu Jisoo and Kim Jun entered a step behind, breathless.

“How did you find this place?”

“Kang Gwonhoo told us.”

Ryu Jisoo’s reply was clipped, her tone more curt than usual.

Indeed—two days had passed since the side quest had ended. The war itself was not yet over. In my drifting state, I had lost all sense of time.

Wait—wasn’t Soohyuk striving to secure first place? Can he spare time to be here? The war ends tomorrow, does it not?

Though Dohwawon had scored high already, no one could be wholly secure.

But that is his guild’s concern, not mine. My own guild is trouble enough.

“Hyung, are you truly well?”

Kim Jun, tears trembling in his eyes, hurried to my side. The wound was nearly healed, yet he wept as though I lay at death’s door. It struck me how fortunate it was I had not taken him into the side quest.

“I am fine. The wound was healed swiftly; it is nothing.”

“And you, rushing off so suddenly—look what state you ended in!”

Ryu Jisoo scolded, her voice a mixture of reproach and concern.

“I did not know it would come to this.”

Yet even as I spoke, I felt Soohyuk’s gaze burning hot upon me. He looked from Jisoo to Jun in silence, weighing their presence. His stare sharpened most of all when it fell upon Jun.

Meooow.

I, ignoring him, stroked my cat, who butted its head against my hand insistently.

“How did you bring him?” I asked Jisoo.

“They said a Beast Tamer’s familiar was admitted, so they allowed it.”

For such bonds, separation could prove dangerous; thus the concession.

“Are they guild members of yours? You seem close.”

At last Soohyuk spoke, breaking into the conversation.

“And you are—who, sir?”

“You… are you not Baek Soohyuk, Guild Master of Dohwawon?”

Jisoo recognized him at once. A famed figure, indeed.

“Yes. I am Baek Woojin’s younger brother.”

“Then it is true—Woojin-ssi is truly your elder brother.”

“What? Hyung, you have a younger brother? He is… incredible.”

Jisoo seemed half to have guessed, but Jun, it appeared, had not known at all. To him, hunters and guilds were distant matters. Yet now his eyes shone with open admiration as he looked upon Soohyuk. Soohyuk, however, did not return even the courtesy of a greeting. He fixed Jun with an unyielding stare, almost hostile.

Meeow.

Thankfully, my cat’s cry broke the tension. He curled at my feet, now grown noticeably larger in the few days apart.

“Ah—I did not know what would please you, so I brought a little of everything.”

At last Jisoo, shaken from her awe, set down the parcels and a box of fruit juice she had carried.

“In this bag are bread and the book you were reading—and three kinds of fruit juice.”

Jun spoke precisely, like a schoolboy reciting before class. Odd gifts, yet clearly chosen with care, the two of them having puzzled it out together.

“I shall be discharged soon enough.”

If tomorrow’s examination proved clear, I intended to leave. The curse could not be lifted here, and the pain could be borne with the medicines prescribed.

“Thank goodness.”

“But—have you nothing to say to us?”

Their expectant looks made me blink in confusion.

“Truly, nothing at all?”

Jun’s teary eyes bore into me, and only then did it strike me—I had never told them my plans.

“Ah—well, as for the Guild War…”

“That is not what we mean! Do you not know how worried we were?”

Jisoo’s voice burst forth at last, the dam of her patience breaking. Her anger, long pent, spilled over in a rush.

And I sat there, dumbfounded.

As I kept silent, Jisoo and Jun filled the void, telling me of those two days. Of how, when I did not return, they had remained in Kang Gwonhoo’s house. Of how, when at last the master returned, he had looked upon them and said only—

“Stay or go, as you please.”

And not another word of what had transpired.