< Curse Contract >
If it was to this extent, you could call it a scam tour.
The old antique castle had collapsed down like it was. .h.i.t by concentrated bombing. It was broken, cut, sliced, and burned. It was all cleanly pushed out like a demolition specialty team had all mobilized.
It was the same for the previously tranquil lake. Riette had fallen in a few times so the blue water surface turned murkily gray. The underwater salamanders had been startled by the poison and came up, and then were chopped up by the aftereffects of the fight. When the number of monsters decreased to under a certain amount, the circ.u.mstances were the same for the appearing 1st floor’s boss monster.
The water dragon that had raised its head awesomely in its own way, became Riette’s stepping stone and was shoved underwater. Then, it was grazed and hit by Sung Hyunjae’s electric shocks and was darkened black, and as it was struggling frantically, it was cut lengthwise with the words ‘you’re in the way’. Up to that point didn’t take even 3 minutes.
Still, it was an A-Rank dungeon’s middle boss, so to think that it went to the grave as a bystander[1]. It was to the point that I felt sorry.
Anyways, the tourist site that Sung Hyunjae-ssi recommended became a sight that you wouldn’t want to look at even if you were paid to. Just look at the corpses piled on the lakeside. It was a relief that it would be reset; if it didn’t, the harm done to Soodam Guild would be no jok… Right, the guild leader was already beat up. It was to the point of not having any more harm to do. Were those guys even alive now?
‘To think that there are two more of them.’
I wondered who the remaining two were. It wasn’t that there weren’t people I couldn’t guess about, but I didn’t know for certain. I thought they were in the higher ranks of the ranking compet.i.tions, but there was the possibility that they didn’t partic.i.p.ate at all. The goal of privileges coming and going behind it was big for partic.i.p.ation in the ranking compet.i.tions, so if they were Hunters who acted alone with personalities like Riette’s, they could’ve had no interest.
Since fighting in a prepared ring while following rules, gave a different feeling than that dogfight right now.
“It looks like it is staring to calm down, right?”
At my question, Noah tilted his head slightly.
-Still, if we rashly approach, it could become dangerous.
“If we go down, the Seseong Guild Leader’s side should be better.”
Sung Hyunjae would be less swayed by his emotions than Riette. First of all, he was also older.
-It seems like you are closer to the Seseong Guild Leader than I had thought.
Noah said, moving the tips of his wings and turning the direction. I mean, what kind of terrible misunderstanding.
“It is just a thoroughly business relationship. The moment it seems like we will not be beneficial to each other, we will be complete strangers.”
If I was a normal F-Rank Hunter like before the regression, would that person have even glanced at me? In the first place, we didn’t have a point of contact before. Sung Hyunjae wouldn’t have had a bit of interest in me, and I thought he was a bit cool but the disgustingly annoying ranked 1st – just that level of an impression. Right now, he was irritatingly amazing, so he seemed like an even more of an irritating person.
Why was my skill so compatible with that person of all people? I mean, it was a useless skill to me, but…… it would’ve been better if it was a skill that was only good for me. It was problem because it was good for the kids.
Ah, how annoying.
“Do you want more cheesecake?”
Seeing how he brought one whole cake, wouldn’t it be that he liked it? I fed one slice to Noah, and put the remaining one in my mouth. I threw the emptied box and plate into the air. Trash disposal was through the dungeon reset.
Actually, several F-Ranks dungeons were used instead of landfills. Though there were voices worried over whether there would be side effects.
Sung Hyunjae and Riette were standing where the castle was, leaving about a hundred meter distance in between. It was region where it was more cleared away, so I could see the wreckage of buildings here and there.
For the result, would it be Sung Hyunjae’s win by technicality[2]?
Riette’s attacking power was no joke, but that needed to hit the mark, in order for there to be an effect. The speed also wasn’t overwhelmingly superior, so with the scam skill called combat foresight, she couldn’t cause decent harm to Sung Hyunjae.
On the other hand, Sung Hyunjae could know his opponent’s movements ahead of time, so it was a much more disadvantageous fight for Riette. If it wasn’t for the poison, that is.
‘An S-Rank poison skill isn’t a easy thing to go up against.’
If it was Yoohyun, he would be able to burn it, but with Sung Hyunjae’s skills, it seemed like it was hard to completely push it away. Maybe because a miasma that spread like fog was a wide-range tool that made it useless even if you predicted it, Sung Hyunjae couldn’t properly approach, and with attacking from afar, there was no way Riette couldn’t avoid with her abilities. In the end, rather than the two people, only the innocent surroundings were destroyed.
Still, Riette had more injuries. Sung Hyunjae was annoyingly fine. On top of that, that white coat didn’t even get dirty. Did it have something like a cleanliness skill?
“Can we go closer?”
I asked, coming down at a place slightly apart from Sung Hyunjae. The eyes that turned to look toward us was chillingly fierce. Noah, who had released the beast transformation, reflexively drew one step back.
“Of course, it’s okay. Rather, I want to ask you to come over.”
The voice was one step lower than normal.
“The baby dragon stays there, without moving. Maybe because I had to struggle because of the poison, it’s irritating.”
Adding to that, there should be a difference in stats. Noah had uneasy eyes, but I could guess why he asked me to come, so I walked over.
When I got closer and saw, Sung Hyunjae also wasn’t completely fine. Though that was probably why he called me over. It seemed like he couldn’t completely avoid the miasma, and was poisoned. Especially the color of his left hand that was lightly injured directly, was definitely different.
“It seems the performance of detoxifying items are not as good as expected.”
“If they weren’t good, I couldn’t have been this fine. Even if they are the same S-Rank poison skills, a curse and poison dragon type’s is much stronger. If they are also followed by stats, it’s even more dangerous.”
Sung Hyunjae said, making to wrap his left arm around me. That was indeed so. Attack skills were affected a lot by stats, so Riette’s poison would be stronger than Noah’s. In the first place, the possibility of the types being different was also high. Even if it was an S-Rank detoxifying item, it would take quite a while for the detoxification.
When the talk of curse and poison dragon types came up, what I had briefly set aside came to mind, and a frown formed on its own. Just then, Riette strode over. I saw that her clothes were ripped here and there, and there were also scars that hadn’t been treated yet. The sight of her walking over, slightly flushed while holding an empty potion bottle in one hand, looked, how should I say it, reminiscent of a drunkard.
She seemed to be in a good mood like she was definitely drunk.
“What, the poison completely disappeared? That’s a bit upsetting.”
Riette, who stopped after leaving a roughly 5 meter gap, grumbled.
“If you don’t have enough potions, should I lend you some?”
“It’s okay, darling. I have enough. It’s a waste to erase them all right away. The performance of the potions is so good, that not a single fun memento is left.”
They were fun mementos? I shouldn’t have said anything, really.
“Besides that, how did to you get to going into the dungeon where the Dio Valshesis came out?”
The timing was too good to be called a coincidence. Riette replied, taking out a new potion.
“Faible told me.”
Noah did? Noah, who was slowly coming over while on guard against Riette and Sung Hyunjae like a cat with its fur bristling, suddenly stopped. Then, he sneaked a glance at Sung Hyunjae.
I got the gist of it. One of the investments Sung Hyunjae had on Noah, seemed to be Dio Valshesis’ Twin t.i.tle.
I looked up at the man who was right in front of me. At the silent question, he smiled with his eyes.
“I’ll reply that it’s the correct answer.”
“Did you not know you would be thrown away when you told Noah about the dungeon?”
“I’m not a prophet.”
So he meant he didn’t realize up to that point. It was certain that the cult had given the Dio Valshesis t.i.tle to the siblings through Sung Hyunjae. It was probably to get rid of Sung Hyunjae and make S-Rank Hunters they could use instead.
And when Riette was ready, they dragged in MKC and Soodam and showed signs of disposing of Sung Hyunjae. It was highly likely that the cult side had purposely been obvious about it. If you included before the regression, they had known each other for a long time, so they would’ve expected that Sung Hyunjae would’ve come out like this, too.
If something was outside of expectations, would it be me?
‘Do they not know about my t.i.tle?’
If they knew, they would’ve aimed for when I wasn’t there. Then, they might’ve succeeded in disposing of Sung Hyunjae.
I said that Sung Hyunjae was superior[3] in the two’s fight, but if you dragged out the poisoned time, there was enough of a chance of winning for Riette, too. If she had cooperated with the other Hunters and even received a.s.sistance, it would’ve been even more advantageous for Riette.
‘If they had made a proper team with Riette taking the lead and Choi Sukwon and Yoon Kyeongsoo protecting the healer, a.s.sistance, and long distance Hunters, it would’ve been really dangerous.’
But Riette slipped out of the high rank curse and poison dragon type’s order. And that high rank curse and poison dragon type was…
“Riette. Can you tell me in detail about the situation when the Dio Valshesis appeared? Was there possibly some unusual point?”
“An unusual point? Besides the dungeon disappearing… ah, there was something else like a boss monster before the Dio Valshesis appeared.”
“Another boss monster?”
“It was something like a large tiger, and we were going to catch it, but suddenly a black dragon appeared and ripped the tiger apart. A gold dragon appeared, too. And…”
Riette tilted her head and continued.
“The Dio Valshesis was easier to catch, than I would’ve thought. It didn’t particularly attack? That was a little weird. Was it hurt somewhere?”
It was easy to catch, she said. At her words, I tightened my jaws.
It had been a little suspicious. A 5-years-later S-Rank dungeon’s curse and poison dragon type. The truth that just the two of them, Riette and Noah, had safely hunted the Dio Valshesis in that place, where the level of difficulty should’ve definitely been higher than right now.
Of course, Riette was plenty strong, and Noah’s skills were useful. But it wouldn’t have been to the level of bridging the gap of 5 years.
‘On top of that, if there was an original boss monster. Whoever the high rank curse and poison dragon type was, they had, in order for Riette’s and her brother’s t.i.tle, purposely… made the Dio Valshesis appear in the dungeon – was it something like that?’
They could make a curse and poison dragon appear in a dungeon. Intentionally.
The moment I realized that, the blood in my whole body ran cold.
It was a D-Rank dungeon. Even if it was a time when unexpected monsters appeared frequently, there were no cases where there was that big of a difference. Han Yoohyun, who had come to save me as if he had conspired or something with the Lauchtas that had appeared in the dungeon I had gone into.
As the puzzle pieces fit together, my throat became dry as if burning up, at the appearing conclusion.
“……Sung Hyunjae-ssi, please tell me.”
“Tell you what?”
“Everything, all that you know about those guys.”
Sung Hyunjae put on an exaggeratedly troubled expression.
“Didn’t I say I couldn’t say?”
“If your mouth was blocked through a contract, I will release you from it.”
“As expected, you have a curse resistance skill, too.”
…What did he mean ‘as expected’. Thanks to that, I got a hold of myself and stepped one step back. Sung Hyunjae was looking over with eyes filled with interest.
“You had guessed?”
“If it is superior to the SSS-Rank t.i.tle Dio Valshesis’ Twin, it would be an SSS-Rank t.i.tle at minimum. You definitely have poison resistance, so the probability of there also being curse resistance is high. And don’t you have one or two more in addition to that? It seems like you don’t have related attack or special skills, so they should be resistance or a.s.sistance type, with high ranks.
The Dio Valshesis is mainly the beast transformation, so the rest stopped at around S-Rank, so Han Yoojin-gun’s resistance skills are probably SSS-Rank. Possibly L-Rank. Would it be about that level?”
“You said you were not a prophet.”
“It’s speculation. If it’s correct, then I’m happy.”
He really was someone I didn’t want to a.s.sociate with. To think that I spit out the keyword to this person; I was starting to want to ask the past me if I was crazy.
“Are you not suspicious how I got that kind of t.i.tle, before you speculate? Normally, you would conclude that it is impossible.”
“Just the performance has to be good; I’m not interested in that kind of trivial background.”
Would he really be not interested? I would put the picnic basket on him having had thoroughly rummaged through my past. Anyways, since he knew, it became easy to persuade him.
“The curse resistance skill is L-Rank. So, will you tell me?”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not enough.”
…What? I was surprised for an instant, but at the same time, I understood Yoohyun’s att.i.tude a while ago. That guy’s response of becoming sullen for some reason after asking if the curse resistance was also L-Rank. It seemed like Yoohyun had his mouth shut with the same rank curse contract as Sung Hyunjae.
“Is it an L-Rank contract? What is the price?”
“Right arm and eye. One each.”
……s.h.i.t, Yoohyun. You can’t sign that kind of crazy illegal contract!
“You sure received that kind of contract well.”
“It’s high risk, high return. I just have to be careful when talking, so it’s not that dangerous. Above all… it’s too boring to act blind with your eyes open while guys who are obviously going to pull nonsense behind your back, are throwing around their business cards.”
“So did you have some fun?”
“……No.”
Sung Hyunjae said, sullenly. It seemed like he wasn’t acting, and was honestly disappointed.
“I did have some benefits, but it wasn’t much fun.”
“Then you should take the chance to completely cut them off.”
“Like you said, it’s an L-Rank curse contract, so it’ll be hard with the same L-Rank resistance. For direct voluntary signatures, conditional curses become a lot stronger compared to rank.”
“I have a skill where my skill effects become doubled while against a curse and poison dragon type.”
Slightly surprised eyes looked back and forth between Riette and Noah.
“Does it also apply to the doubled attack skill effect?”
“That is sharing my skill; it is not using it against a curse and poison dragon type. The doubled effect goes into the sharing skill itself.”
So even if it was an L-Rank curse contract, I could destroy it. If that opponent was definitely a curse and poison dragon type.
“It’s good that you’re self-confident, but you haven’t checked. Above all, you can’t tell if the person who drew up the contract is a curse and poison dragon type.”
“So will you continue to have your mouth closed for you? Is it just that? One eye and one arm; if something goes wrong, whatever I have to do, I will take responsibility. I will extort the elixir from Breaker Guild and give it to you. Or I will compensate with anything else that you will be satisfied with, so please tell me.”
Use me and tell me who the guys who killed my younger brother are.
“I treasure Han Yoojin-gun a lot, but.”
Along with voice slowly spilling out, Sung Hyunjae’s hand clenched my neck. Then he lightly pulled me over to his side.
“Yoojin-ssi!”
“It is okay, so please stay still.”
I stopped Noah as I stared straight at Sung Hyunjae. The gaze boring into me as if to pierce inside, would definitely have felt terrifying if I didn’t have the fear resistance. No, I might’ve been struck with fear more than that, and avoided it.
But I could face him straight on without a tremble. It wasn’t normal, but that was why it was a relief.
“It’s not to the point of giving part of my body.”
“Do you really think that way? It is not even your life, and it is merely one arm and one eye? Sung Hyunjae-ssi, there are still many things that I am hiding.”
I quirked my lips and smiled.
“So it will be more fun from now on.”
I tossed out provocatively, as if asking if he would lose out on this chance just because of merely a part of his body. To the person who possibly knew my worth better than even me.
The eyes that were coldly evaluating me, instantly became gentle. The hand that was gripping my neck loosened and lightly patted my cheek.
“I hope it doesn’t just end with words.”
“The one holding the reins is you, so please do not worry. Rather, I am uneasy that you will keep your mouth closed even after the contract is safely cancelled.”
“Would I do something that boring? But Han Yoojin-gun, remember one thing. Even if you safely succeed in the decursing, I staked my arm and eye on you.”
He lowered his head toward me and continued speaking.
“I’ll look forward to you definitely repaying this debt.”
“I will keep it in mind.”
After I complain to G.o.d about why it was this person of all people.