[ Curse Contract ]
This could almost be called a sightseeing tour.
The once majestic old castle had collapsed as if it had been hit by a concentrated bombing. Smashed, cut, ground, and burned—like a professional demolition team had been deployed and cleared everything out perfectly.
The once serene lake was no exception. After Liette fell into it a few times, the once blue water had turned a murky gray. The salamanders in the water were startled by the toxic fumes and floated to the surface, only to be shredded by the aftermath of the battle. The boss monster of the first floor, which appeared once the number of monsters dwindled below a certain point, suffered the same fate.
The water dragon that had proudly raised its head was used as Liette’s stepping stone before it was shoved back into the water. Then, it got singed by Seong Hyunjae’s lightning, blackened and ready to lash out, but it got in the way and was sliced vertically with just a single word: “Annoying.” The whole thing didn’t take even three minutes.
Even so, it was a mid-boss of an A-rank dungeon, and it was taken out like a shrimp’s back getting blown out. I almost felt bad for it.
Anyway, the tourist spot Seong Hyunjae recommended had turned into a sight that I wouldn’t want to see again, even if someone paid me. Look at all the corpses piled up by the lakeside. It’s a relief the dungeon resets itself; if not, the Sudam Guild would have had a major headache on their hands… Oh, wait. We already took down their Guild Leader. There’s not much more trouble we can cause them. Are they even still alive?
‘And to think there are two more people like them.’
I wonder who the other two are. I can make some guesses, but I’m not certain. They’re probably in the upper ranks, but it’s possible they didn’t even participate in the ranking battles. After all, for a hunter like Liette, who travels alone and has a personality that doesn’t care much for these things, participating in the ranking battles might not have interested her.
Fighting in an organized arena with rules is completely different from the chaos going on here.
“Seems like it’s starting to settle down, right?”
At my question, Noah tilted his head slightly.
—Still, approaching recklessly could be dangerous.
“If we go down, it’d be better to go to the Sesung Guild Leader.”
Seong Hyunjae is less likely to act on emotions than Liette. For one thing, he’s older.
—You seem to be getting along better with the Sesung Guild Leader than I thought.
Noah commented as he adjusted his direction with a flick of his wing. What a ridiculous misunderstanding.
“It’s purely a business relationship. The moment there’s nothing to gain from each other, we’ll go back to being complete strangers.”
If I were still an ordinary F-rank hunter like before my regression, would that man even look at me? We wouldn’t have even crossed paths. Back then, Seong Hyunjae probably wouldn’t have cared about me at all. I just thought he was annoyingly impressive but a total jerk for being the top ranker. Now, he’s just even more irritating because of how well he does.
Why does my skill have to work so well with this guy? No, it’s not even useful for me personally… It would be better if it were only good for me. The problem is that it’s too helpful for the others.
Ugh, it’s frustrating.
“Want more cheesecake?”
Given that he brought a whole cake, I assume he likes it. I gave Noah another piece and stuffed one into my mouth as well. The empty box and tray were tossed into the air. The dungeon reset would take care of the trash.
Some F-rank dungeons are actually used as garbage dumps. There are concerns about potential side effects, but we’ll see.
Seong Hyunjae and Liette were standing over a hundred meters apart from the spot where the castle once stood. The area had been somewhat less demolished, so there were still bits and pieces of buildings left here and there.
If I were to summarize the result, Seong Hyunjae came out slightly on top.
Liette’s attack power was no joke, but it’s only effective if it hits. And since her speed wasn’t overwhelmingly superior, with Seong Hyunjae’s battle foresight—a cheat-like skill—she couldn’t land a significant blow.
On the other hand, Seong Hyunjae, who could anticipate her every move, had a clear advantage. If it weren’t for the poison, that is.
‘An S-rank poison skill is no joke.’
If it were Yuhyun, he would’ve burned it all away, but it seems like Seong Hyunjae’s skills weren’t enough to completely wipe it out. The poison spread like a mist, a wide-range attack that foresight couldn’t help with. Seong Hyunjae couldn’t approach easily, and Liette could dodge any long-range attacks from afar. In the end, it wasn’t so much a battle between the two as it was a destruction of the surrounding area.
Still, Liette suffered more injuries. Seong Hyunjae, that bastard, was irritatingly unscathed. Even his white coat wasn’t dirty. Does he have some kind of cleanliness skill?
“Is it safe to approach now?”
I asked as I landed a bit away from Seong Hyunjae. His gaze turned toward me, cold and sharp. Noah, having dissolved his transformation, instinctively took a step back.
“Of course, feel free to come closer. I might even ask you to.”
His voice was a pitch lower than usual.
“Keep the baby dragon where it is. It’s been getting on my nerves, maybe because of the poison.”
On top of that, there’s a stat difference. Noah looked uneasy, but I knew why he was calling me over, so I walked toward him.
Up close, I could see that Seong Hyunjae wasn’t entirely unscathed. That’s probably why he called me. He hadn’t fully escaped the poison—he was infected. His left hand, which had a slight wound, was clearly a different color.
“The detox item didn’t work as well as expected, huh?”
“If it hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be this fine. Even if it’s the same S-rank poison skill, the one from the Venom and Curse Dragonkin is much more potent. If their stats match up, it gets even deadlier.”
Seong Hyunjae wrapped his left arm around me as he spoke. That’s true. Attack skills are heavily influenced by stats, so Liette’s poison is likely stronger than Noah’s. And the types of poison might be different too. Even with an S-rank detox item, it will take time to neutralize.
When he mentioned the Venom and Curse Dragonkin, something I had pushed to the back of my mind resurfaced, and I instinctively frowned. That’s when Liette strode over. Her clothes were torn in several places, and she still bore visible wounds that hadn’t fully healed. Holding an empty potion bottle in one hand, she walked toward us with a slightly flushed face. She looked a bit like a drunk.
She certainly seemed in a good mood, like someone who’s tipsy.
“What, the poison’s completely gone now? That’s kind of disappointing.”
Liette grumbled as she stopped about five meters away.
“Need more potions?”
“Nah, darling. I’ve got plenty. It’d be a waste to wipe it all away at once. The potion’s too good, you see. It doesn’t leave any fun memories behind.”
Fun memories, she says. Seriously?
“By the way, how did you manage to get into the dungeon where Dio Valsesis appeared?”
The timing seemed a bit too convenient to be a coincidence. Liette pulled out a fresh potion and answered.
“Pebble told me.”
Noah? As Noah, who had been cautiously approaching us like a wary cat, froze. He glanced over at Seong Hyunjae.
I had a vague idea. One of the things Seong Hyunjae had invested in Noah was probably the Dio Valsesis’s Twin title.
I looked up at the man standing right in front of me. He smiled at my silent question.
“I’ll go ahead and say you’re correct.”
“When you tipped Noah off about the dungeon, you didn’t know you’d be discarded?”
“I’m not a prophet.”
So he didn’t realize until then. It’s clear that the cult gave the Valsesis title to Noah and Liette through Seong Hyunjae. They likely intended to use them to replace Seong Hyunjae with another S-rank hunter.
Once Liette was ready, they showed signs of bringing in MKC and Sudam to deal with Seong Hyunjae. The cult probably did that on purpose. They’ve known Seong Hyunjae for a long time, even before my regression, so they likely anticipated this response.
The only unexpected factor, it seems, was me.
‘Do they not know about my title?’
If they knew, they would have struck when I wasn’t around. If they had succeeded in eliminating Seong Hyunjae, they might’ve pulled it off.
Even though I said Seong Hyunjae had the upper hand in the fight, if he were poisoned and delayed long enough, Liette could have won. If they had cooperated with other hunters and received additional support, Liette would have been even more advantageous.
‘If Liette had been up front and Choi Seokwon and Yun Kyungsu had protected the healers, support, and long-range hunters in a well-coordinated team, it would’ve been truly dangerous.’
But Liette broke free from the commands of the higher-ranking Venom and Curse Dragonkin. And that dragonkin…
“Liette. Could you describe in detail what happened when Dio Valsesis appeared? Was there anything unusual?”
“Unusual? Other than the dungeon disappearing… Oh, there was another boss monster before Dio Valsesis showed up.”
“Another boss monster?”
“It was a huge tiger-like creature. I was about to kill it when a black dragon suddenly appeared and tore it apart. A golden dragon showed up too. And then…”
Liette tilted her head and continued.
“Dio Valsesis was surprisingly easy to beat. It didn’t attack much. That was kind of weird. Maybe it was sick.”
Easy to beat, huh? Her words made me instinctively clench my teeth.
It had seemed a bit odd. The Venom and Curse Dragonkin in the S-rank dungeon five years later… In that timeline, the difficulty would have been much higher, yet Liette and Noah had managed to hunt Dio Valsesis safely.
Of course, Liette is strong, and Noah’s skills are useful. But not enough to bridge a five-year gap.
‘Especially if there was another boss monster originally. It’s possible that a higher-ranking Venom and Curse Dragonkin deliberately made Dio Valsesis appear for the sake of giving Liette and Noah the title.’
Someone can make a Venom and Curse Dragonkin appear in a dungeon. Deliberately.
The moment I realized that, my entire body went cold.
It had been a D-rank dungeon. Even during the period when strange monsters were starting to appear more frequently, it wasn’t common for there to be such a massive difference in difficulty. In the dungeon I had entered, the Lautitars had appeared, and Yuhyun had shown up to save me, almost like it had all been planned.
As the pieces of the puzzle came together, the conclusion scorched my throat dry.
“…Mr. Seong Hyunjae, tell me.”
“What would you like me to tell you?”
“Anything you know about them.”
Seong Hyunjae exaggeratedly made a face as if he were troubled.
“Didn’t I say I couldn’t tell you?”
“If you’re under some kind of contract preventing you from talking, I can break it for you.”
“As expected, you have a curse resistance skill.”
…As expected, huh. That remark brought me back to my senses, and I took a step back. Seong Hyunjae was watching me with a gaze full of curiosity.
“You already had a guess?”
“If you’re able to surpass an SSS-rank title like Dio Valsesis’s Twin, then your title is at least SSS-rank. And since I know you have poison resistance, curse resistance is also likely. I assume there’s one or two more, maybe related to support or resistance, given the lack of offensive or special abilities. The rest are probably high-level.
Dio Valsesis had mostly summoning-type skills, and the rest were only about S-rank at best. But your resistance skills are probably SSS-rank. Maybe even L-rank. Something like that?”
“And here I thought you weren’t a prophet.”
“Just a guess. But I’m glad it turned out to be right.”
This guy is really something. I’m starting to wonder if I was insane when I handed him those keywords in the past.
“Doesn’t it strike you as odd how someone could obtain such a title? Most would find it impossible.”
“As long as the skill works well, I don’t care much about the details of its origin.”
Could he really not care? I bet he’s already dug into my past thoroughly. At least it’s easier to convince him now since he already knows.
“My curse resistance skill is L-rank. Will you tell me now?”
“Sorry, but that’s not enough.”
…What? I was momentarily shocked, but at the same time, Yuhyun’s attitude a while ago suddenly made sense. When he asked if my curse resistance was also L-rank, he had looked somewhat disappointed. It seems Yuhyun had been bound by the same curse contract as Seong Hyunjae.
“Is it an L-rank curse contract? And what was the price?”
“My right arm and an eye.”
…Damn it, Yuhyun. You signed a contract like that?!
“And you just accepted that kind of contract?”
“High risk, high return. It’s not all that dangerous as long as I keep my mouth shut. Besides… it’s boring to play the blind fool while those scheming bastards wave their business cards in my face.”
“So, did you have fun?”
“…Not really.”
Seong Hyunjae replied in a sullen tone. He wasn’t acting; he genuinely seemed disappointed.
“I made some gains, but it wasn’t particularly fun.”
“Then how about using this opportunity to cut ties completely?”
“As I said, it’s an L-rank curse contract. Even an L-rank resistance skill can’t break it. When you sign a direct curse contract, the effect is much stronger relative to the rank.”
“I have a skill that doubles the effectiveness of skills when dealing with Venom and Curse Dragonkin.”
His eyes widened slightly as he glanced back and forth between Liette and Noah.
So, even an L-rank curse contract can be undone. If the opponent is indeed a Venom and Curse Dragonkin.
“Confidence is good, but you haven’t actually tested it, have you? And we don’t even know for sure if the one who wrote the contract was a Venom and Curse Dragonkin.”
“So you’re just going to stay muzzled? Is that all you’ve got? It’s just an arm and an eye, not your life. Mr. Seong Hyunjae, I’m still holding back a lot, you know.”
I smirked.
“So things will only get more interesting from here.”
I taunted him, asking if he was going to miss the opportunity just because of a body part. To a man who likely knew my value better than even I did.
His cold, calculating eyes softened slightly. The hand that had been gripping my neck released me, and he lightly patted my cheek.
“I hope it won’t just be empty words.”
“Don’t worry. You’re the one holding the reins, after all. I’m more concerned that you’ll stay quiet even after we’ve broken the contract.”
“Do you really think I’d do something so petty? But Yujin, remember this: even if I successfully break free, I put my arm and eye on the line for you.”
He bowed his head toward me as he spoke.
“I expect you to pay that debt in full.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
But first, I need to file a complaint with whatever god made me deal with this guy.
–TL Notes–
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