ETVC C30

Chapter 30

“You are nothing to me. Cease your delusions of grandeur and tend to your own affairs.”

I was growing accustomed to speaking thus, yet I prayed that Baek Soohyuk might neither be wounded nor angered by such words. If he were wise enough to read through the filter, he might find within them the meaning I wished to convey—that my pain was no fault of his, and he need not bear the burden of guilt. Though it was no easy interpretation, it was there to be found.

“Yes. This is the Baek Woojin I know.”

He lifted the head that had been bowed. Whether he had understood as I desired I could not say, yet at least his mood did not seem ill.

It is not a pleasant thing, to be told ‘this is how you ought to be,’ yet for now I must be content with it.

It seemed that silence, or dismissal, only widened the gulf; but even a barbed reply could serve as a bridge of sorts. Satisfied, I pressed my lips shut once more.

“You are in pain. Even if you dislike my presence, endure it for now. I have seen you frowning for some time—the wound still torments you, does it not?”

He was right. I had thought my body tense from the oppressive air that lingered while Kang Gwonhoo remained, but the truth was different. It was the curse, striking in erratic waves of pain.

“If the agony worsens, request stronger draughts of medicine.”

For now, I could endure, and so I did not summon a nurse. Instead, I drew the coverlet over myself and lay back. Soohyuk exhaled, a sound between sigh and lament.

“If only I might dream the nightmares in your stead.”

A man so burdened with duty, who had flung himself before harm to shield his subordinates, must be weary indeed. And now, with Gwonhoo’s poison having swelled his sense of guilt, his heart must ache all the more.

The autumn wind slipped through the window, cool against the skin. It was a night in which none could find rest.

I passed the night without sleep, but to remain upon a bed the whole day and resist the pull of slumber was no simple task. By the next morn, at the ninth hour, I drifted at last into a shallow doze—and paid a dreadful price.

“Ah!”

No matter how oft I endured it, waking drenched in sweat was a torment without compare. Had not Meow, who unlike any cat slept soundly through the night, butted his head against my face with a show of affection, the horror might have unmanned me altogether. Soohyuk returned with a damp cloth and once again wiped me clean. My slackened body submitted meekly to his care. It was fortunate that Woojin’s frame was hardy; had it been my frailer body, worn by illness and denied sleep, I should have gone mad within three days.

For this, at least, I must give thanks to Kang Gwonhoo.

Though I feared he would demand some terrible price for summoning the curse-breaker, enduring a month of such torment would have been the greater evil. Whatever he asked, I might endure it.

Later, I requested that the healers increase my draughts and, seeking to resist the drowsiness that stole over me, I took up a book from the table.

It was a tome on demons—Satan, Belial, Lucifer, Asmodeus, and Azazel.

I turned to the page concerning Azazel. It spoke at length of the scapegoat, and of the tale that he was forebear to the giants. I was about to turn the page when a chime shattered my concentration.

[System Quest: First Guild War Concluded]
[Victor: Dohwa Guild
Guilds Absorbed: 932 (see list)
Guilds Destroyed: 1,823 (see list)]

Soohyuk’s guild had won, as expected. Though he had remained by my side, I had fretted that their standing might falter, yet the opposite was true—the margin was greater still. Kang Gwonhoo, meanwhile, had moved busily in the last moments, yet the guild to which he had bound himself finished only in fifth place.

Perhaps he had been busy with matters beyond the war. If he had truly considered it vital, he would never have wasted his strength upon our skirmish. He would have seized victory, or at least ensured Dohwa’s defeat.

If victory had been his aim, he would not have failed. He remained, after all, an adversary that neither Soohyuk nor his guild could yet hope to withstand.

But the triumph is of little import to me.

I turned the display to my personal status window.

[Special Quest Cleared: Survive the Guild War Event!]
[Reward 1: 5,000 Diamonds
Reward 2: Two Item Draw Tickets]

I pressed the gleaming button, and the rewards flowed into my inventory. Yet suspicion stirred—why was I given such quests at all?

I obey because refusal means death. But is it truly right to follow so blindly?

I knew only that the system bestowed unique quests upon certain chosen souls, yet never its purpose. In the game, I had dismissed it as a contrivance to lend justification to plot and character. But here…

Did Woojin himself once receive such quests?

His playable moments had been few. Though I had played a hundred times, his tale was never complete in my memory.

I cannot recall every death, every thread. Some were clear, patterns oft repeated; others faded like mist, dismissed by the mind as useless.

So—for now, I must follow where it leads. If danger grows too great, I shall find another path.

[Loading…]

I waited for the next event to unfold, but the screen did not change. The circle spun on, ceaseless, for ten minutes and more.

Is nothing yet prepared?

It should have been a relief, that no quest now pressed me to hazard life and limb. Yet the silence was more unsettling than any command.

I struck at the window with my fist, mimicking the way one might coax a stalled machine, but it only cut through empty air.

Without orders, I scarcely know what to do.

The second Guild War, more elaborate and cruel, was still distant. For now, preparation mattered more than haste.

Best to focus upon breaking the curse. Perhaps that is why no new quest comes—some grace granted to me by the system itself.

If the system truly cared for me, it might have spared me the penalty of death. Yet all its quests bore that same stake—death was the chain that bound me to compliance. Still, the tasks themselves had not been impossibly hard.

At last, I closed the loading screen and turned to my inventory. I held two draw tickets—meagre rewards, yet perhaps fate might smile.

[D-Rank Item Draw Ticket *2
L-Rank Item Probability: 0.000000001%
S-Rank Item Probability: 0.0000001%
A-Rank Item Probability: 0.01%
B-Rank Item Probability: 0.1%
C-Rank Item Probability: 10%
D-Rank Item Probability: 20%
E-Rank Item Probability: 30%
F-Rank Item Probability: 35%
Unranked Item Probability: 4.8881%]

Even for a D-Rank ticket, the odds were insulting. The chance of L or S rank was so small as to be mockery. A B-Rank item at least was not wholly beyond hope.

Two chances at 0.1%—a gambler’s folly, but not despair.

In the game, one might purchase more draws with coin, but here I had only these two.

Still, I am idle. Why not try one?

[Use D-Rank Item Draw Ticket?]

Without hesitation, I pressed Yes.

[Please Wait…]

The screen unfurled a scroll, slowly revealing its prize—the very same animation from the game. I tapped the window impatiently, urging it on.

[Unranked Item Acquired: Tear of the Goddess]
[Description: This item has a chance to awaken the latent power of a weapon.
Synergy: Any item blessed by the Goddess.]

But such items were rare indeed; Woojin’s inventory held none. I had known the draw would be hollow, yet the reality was deflating still.

Better this, at least, than the refuse of E or F rank. I may sell it for coin.

I moved to use the second ticket—then halted.

Wait. The Tear of the Goddess?

The words stirred a memory, a whisper of déjà vu.

If I am right, then to spend this ticket now would be folly.

I placed the ticket back into my inventory.

Disappointment is sometimes the wiser course.