[ Cut Off (2) ]
A flame lizard slithered up over the hand gripping the steering wheel. It was the same size as a few days ago, but its color had lightened a bit. Or rather, it had taken on a slight yellowish tint. I activated the Promising Talent skill, just in case.
[Fire Spirit ? E-rank]
Its rank had gone up already. Still low, but it was growing pretty fast.
“That spirit seems to have matured a bit.”
“Really? It eats well, at least.”
“It eats other things besides fire?”
“It mainly consumes fire, but it’ll also devour mana stones and random items. Doesn’t even glance at regular stuff, though.”
So it only eats things from dungeons, huh? The lizard, which had been circling around Yuhyun’s fingers, climbed back up his arm, all the way to his neck. It wrapped around his neck once, then crawled behind his ear and suddenly vanished near his right eye.
“…Hey, your eye.”
His right eye had turned red. Sometimes it would have a faint dark-red hue due to his skill’s influence, but this was a complete transformation.
“It absorbs into the skin like a tattoo sometimes, but it seems to prefer going into my eye,” Yuhyun said casually. Spirits sure were strange.
As I stared at his now crimson eye, the lizard reappeared, flicking its tail as if something had annoyed it.
“Does it bother you?”
“Huh? Oh, did you bring it out on purpose? Can you control it?”
“To a certain extent.”
The flickering red lizard quickly scurried down and crossed over to me. Peace, who had been sitting quietly on my lap, brightened and reached out with his paw.
-Grrr…
Ever since it was an egg, Peace had shown interest in the fire spirit, and it seemed he really liked it. But before Peace could touch it, the lizard abruptly turned and returned to Yuhyun. Peace watched it leave with disappointment in his eyes.
“…Can we really trust the system creators?”
Yuhyun asked me this while we were stopped at a red light. I turned my gaze from the blazing red light to my brother.
“Well, it’s not about trusting or not trusting. I can’t say much, but at least it’s certain they’re involved with the system. They’re not making me do anything weird, either.”
I had freaked out when they told me to gather fifty S-ranks, but honestly, it was pretty much just telling me to use my skills diligently. The timeline was generous, and monsters counted too. It wasn’t especially dangerous. Even the Noah incident wasn’t much of a risk if I focused on raising Monster Mounts rather than being overly greedy.
‘Aside from the scam they pulled with the wish stone, they don’t seem to have done anything else shady.’
Things were better since I’d come back, so I couldn’t really complain. They had said there wasn’t much they could do about the lack of skill explanations. As for Deer… I wondered if they really did chop off its horns.
“For now, it’s enough for me to just focus on what I need to do. There’s nothing extra I need to worry about. The most it amounts to is a bit of pressure. Today, I’m just going to check something I’ve been curious about. Do you have anything you want to ask?”
I didn’t know if they’d answer, but it couldn’t hurt to try asking. I wasn’t even sure if they’d be in the mood for a conversation this time. I was just going to give it a shot.
“…There’s so much I want to ask, I wouldn’t even know where to start. I’m sure it’s the same for other people, too.”
“True. If I told Seok Hayan, she’d probably show up with a mountain of questions to last her three months.”
I could easily imagine her team celebrating together, thrilled at the opportunity.
“Hyung, is your curse resistance L-rank too?”
Yuhyun asked suddenly. I hadn’t told him about the rank of my curse resistance, only about my poison resistance.
“Yeah. Don’t tell anyone else, though. I’m sure you’ll handle it well, but…”
If the fact that I had L-rank curse resistance got out, it’d be a real hassle. Even now, curses were used everywhere, from inventories to contracts. In the future, there’d be even more uses for curse-related skills. But with L-rank curse resistance, it was practically impossible for any curse skill to bind me. Not just me, but anyone within the skill’s range.
“If anyone asks, I’ll just say it’s S-rank.”
It wouldn’t be possible to hide it completely, but people wouldn’t make a fuss about S-rank curse resistance since its range was limited. I’m just an F-rank, after all. No one would think much of it. Liette probably thought the same, or maybe even less. Her contract scroll’s rank was only B, whether due to her lack of skill or because it was cheaply made.
“If you’re careful when writing contracts, you won’t have to worry about your resistance level being discovered. As long as you don’t tear up any S-rank contracts, you’ll be fine.”
Hunter curse skills are weak compared to their rank unless their conditions are met, so it’s not a big problem. It’s not like I’m going after monsters loaded with attack-type curse skills anyway.
“But if you ever need to break an SS-rank or higher curse, I’ll help you out. Even the Saint can only handle up to S-rank.”
If it gets out, my peaceful retirement plans will just get further away. Maybe I should let Yerim know. But unlike poison, curses are mostly about illegal contracts, so it should be fine.
“You could block contracts up to SSS-rank.”
“You can only break curses one rank higher than the resistance or through special skills, so yeah, I guess. There aren’t any SS-ranks yet, are there?”
“There aren’t.”
His voice sounded oddly unenthusiastic. Is there? As far as I knew, there weren’t, but you never know.
Before I could think more about it, we arrived at the dungeon building. I stopped in front of the blue gate, and Yuhyun went in first. I was supposed to wait about ten minutes before following him.
“…Yuhyun?”
Yuhyun came back out of the gate, looking a little confused.
“…Did we come to the wrong dungeon?”
“No, this is the right one. If it were a different dungeon, we wouldn’t have been able to enter the building.”
The serial number on the wall beside the gate matched the one we were supposed to be at. Underneath the serial number, it said the environment was a D-rank desert dungeon. Yuhyun stared blankly at the sign.
“There’s… snow.”
“…Snow?”
“It’s a snow-covered forest. And I didn’t see any monsters.”
This was the first time I’d ever heard of a dungeon’s environment changing. Could it be related to the system people?
“I’ll go in and check.”
“No, it could be dangerous.”
“The gate’s still open. Plus, I’ve got this.”
I took out the Shard of Sharlos, which had the same effect as the bracelet from before. With that, Yuhyun reluctantly agreed. He’s such a worrywart. Yuhyun went back in first, and I followed after hugging Peace.
“It really is a winter forest.”
A peaceful forest blanketed in white snow stretched out before us, like a scene from a Christmas card. From the gray sky, snowflakes gently drifted down for a moment before stopping completely.
“It’s kind of cold.”
“I don’t have cold resistance. It’s easy to offset, though.”
If Yerim heard that, she’d probably grumble. Yuhyun took out a coat and draped it over my shoulders. Then the flame lizard wrapped around my neck, and Peace enlarged, snuggling up to me. The cold quickly dissipated. I couldn’t do anything about my shoes getting wet from the snow, though.
We ventured deeper into the forest, but the surroundings remained eerily quiet. A monster-less dungeon? Something was definitely off. There wasn’t even an introductory message window.
Maybe we should head back.
Thud!
“Yuhyun!”
A sharp ice spear shot through the air without a sound, piercing Yuhyun’s forearm. It wasn’t aimed at his arm—it had been targeting his head, and he blocked it.
Flames surged from his arm, instantly melting the ice. At the same time, Yuhyun kicked the snow beneath his feet with force.
Whoosh—
The snow surged forward like a massive wave, covering a good dozen meters before falling back to the ground. Some of it, however, remained floating mid-air, caught on something invisible. Something about two meters tall with the vague shape of a head and shoulders.
“It’s got a high-rank stealth skill. Definitely not D-rank.”
Yuhyun muttered as he opened a potion bottle. I already had the Shard of Sharlos in hand and activated Promising Talent.
[Toy Soldier No. 6 ? S-rank
Contractor — □□□□□]
‘…A spirit?’
It was a status window similar to the one for Yuhyun’s fire spirit. But it was S-rank, and the sixth one? Could there be more than just one through five…?
I quickly concluded that we needed to escape back to the gate.
[Sorryyyy~~.]
A message window appeared. No way…
“…Yuhyun, hold on a second.”
Yuhyun, who had been ready to attack, looked at me with confusion. Then, from a distance, I saw something bouncing toward us.
[I didn’t know the kids would attack Honey’s little brother~~.]
Bounce, bounce, bounce—what looked like a volleyball with a face drawn on it came into view. Yuhyun furrowed his brow. What the hell is this?
“An apology doesn’t mean anything! You put a hole in my brother’s arm!”
The volleyball’s eyes, which had been drawn as circles, changed into a crying ㅠㅠ shape. Its previously smiling mouth also crumpled into a frown.
[Well, Honey’s little brother did do something wrong, too…]
“Something wrong? You suddenly attacked us, and now you’re shifting the blame?”
I grabbed the volleyball and shook it vigorously. What kind of ridiculous excuse is this?
[No, no, that’s not it…]
“You’re a newbie, aren’t you?”
[I’m Wilson!]
…Wilson? Who the hell is that?
[…Okay, yeah, I’m a newbie ㅠ0ㅠ.]
As expected. At least it’s not an enemy.
“Yuhyun, it’s from the system—”
I turned to tell Yuhyun it was system-related and not a threat, but he had already taken a few steps back, looking a bit bewildered. Peace was the same, staring at me with sad eyes as he scratched at an invisible wall.
[They can’t listen in on this conversation, it’d cause too many problems.]
“I still need to explain things to them before we talk.”
Apparently, sound didn’t reach them. I tried to pull out a notepad and pen, but my inventory wouldn’t open. I had no choice but to crouch down and write “It’s okay” in the snow. My hands were freezing. At least the lizard was still wrapped around my neck, offering some warmth.
“Why did you attack us, and what is this place?”
[Well, Honey’s little brother has ties to some people who we agreed not to mention. This is a dungeon made just for Honey. If you knock on the gate three times, you can enter. I worked really hard on it!]
“I don’t remember knocking.”
[At first, you have to come in on your own before we explain it to you. Some people we can’t mention interfered a lot recently, so we were able to create it.]
Some people they can’t mention… I don’t understand a word of this. And Yuhyun’s tied up with them? Wait, hold on. I suddenly remembered some of the weird, suspicious things Yuhyun had said in the past.
“…Are these people some kind of cult? Like a strange religion?”
While Confucianism isn’t a cult, I wasn’t entirely off the mark. The rookie didn’t answer my question. The silence spoke volumes.
[Anyway, we’ve cleaned up the place well, so you won’t run into any danger. We can only keep it open for about 30 minutes, though.]
I glanced at my watch. It seemed like ten minutes had already passed. I’d better hurry up and ask my questions.
“Is this cult dangerous? Can you explain why you told me to gather S-ranks? Is there anyone else who could take my place? And could you speed up the appearance of the dungeon with the stamina potion ingredients in Japan? Also, there’s a baby bird monster I call Chirp, but its status window doesn’t display properly. Keywords apply, but neither taming nor my My Kid Is The Best skill work on it. And—”
[Wait, wait! As for danger, well… you’re safe for now. I can’t give more details because it’ll become more dangerous if I do. And there isn’t anyone to replace Honey… for now. But maybe Honey could find someone? That’d be great!]
Find someone? Someone with skills similar to mine?
[The stamina potion ingredients… oh, here we go. I’ll adjust it so the dungeon appears in about two weeks. Chirp, you said? Um… hmm… Uh…?? Did the Keyword apply?]
“Yes.”
[…I can’t see it at all [email protected]△@??]
Can’t see it? Not even the status window…? But I’m sure Chirp was there. Its rank was displayed as □, though.
[That’s strange. If you bring it here, we’ll check it and delete it for you.]
…Are you insane?
“No, thanks!”
What the hell, delete it? Have they lost their minds? There’s no way I’m taking Chirp into a dungeon. So what if he has a few bugs? Deleting him? That’s absurd.
“And recently, the first-clear rewards for an S-rank dungeon changed compared to before the regression. Is that normal?”
[Was it a consumable item?]
“Yes.”
[If it was a consumable, it’s because it was used. Whether it’s items or anything else—like living things—they get removed if they’re gone in the future. If there’s a replacement, it takes its place. Otherwise, a different item is provided.]
“…Removed?”
[Yep. That’s how regression works, right? Oh, I guess Honey doesn’t really know. When you regressed, only you went back in time. The world stayed where it was, and you returned to the past five years ago.]
For a moment, nausea hit me. The world stayed… as it was? It didn’t disappear?
“And what about what’s left…?”
[Of course, it wouldn’t make sense to leave it behind. If you leave it, you’ll end up with two of the same world. So, everything gets merged with the present. It’s usually the same, so there’s no problem with just squeezing it all together, like combining two apple trees into one. However, dungeons—especially high-level ones—are a bit different, so the merging causes them to escalate in difficulty more quickly. I think it’s safe to tell you this much!]
“So… when they’re merged, does that mean they essentially disappear?”
[Well, it’s like overwriting a file with the same name, so you could say they’re gone. In reality, it’s more like they’ve been combined, but since no one notices, it’s the same as them disappearing. Really sensitive people might feel a bit of dissonance, but usually, no one notices.]
Overwriting. So I’ve overwritten the future file with the past, and for everyone else, it’s the reverse. That’s why titles that should have vanished still remain—because I’m the future file.
“Then… what about people who were born after the present time, and those who… died? When you say ‘removed,’ do you mean…?”
[If they weren’t born yet and didn’t die before the regression, they aren’t erased. This is a bit tricky to explain, but since the world they’re merged with is similar, they’ll end up being born in most cases, or at least there will be someone with similar information.]
The message window kept appearing.
[But those who were used up or had died before the regression were already removed from the system. Let’s say there are two people: A and B. Both exist at Year 1. But by Year 5, A is still alive, but B has died. When Year 1 and Year 5 are merged, A remains because A’s information is still valid. However, B’s information has already been deleted. So A is fine, but B is removed from the system because you can’t merge deleted information with the current world. As for your item, neither the Year 1 nor Year 5 version existed anymore, so it couldn’t appear at all.]
Deleted information. My mind was spinning. B was still B at Year 1, even if the five years had been erased. Even as I told myself this, I couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of regret.
“…I couldn’t save him.”
[Huh? Oh, was that hard to understand? It’s difficult to explain without revealing too much 8ㅅ8.]
“No, it’s fine. I understand enough.”
I didn’t want to know any more. After a few more minutes, Wilson told me we’d be returning to the original dungeon soon and disappeared.
“Hyung, are you okay?”
-Howrr…
Yuhyun and Peace came over. I looked up at my brother.
“Of course, I’m fine. I was just having a conversation. Oh, by the way, we’ll be back in the original dungeon in about five minutes.”
“…You don’t look fine.”
“I’m just cold. That’s all. Can I hug you?”
“Peace is warmer than me.”
He sounded confused but didn’t refuse. I reached out and hugged my brother. The warmth reassured me. Maybe this was enough.
“Don’t you dare die before me.”
“What’s with you all of a sudden?”
“And you too, Peace.”
This time, I hugged Peace’s neck. He was definitely warmer than Yuhyun.
–TL Notes–
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