Chapter 48 – The Hound
When I fell into the world of the game and found out that there were two heroes, I did a kind of screening.
It was to select colleagues.
Can I control it, is there room to play an active part in the second half when the game balance is broken, will it cause friction with other teammates even if it becomes my teammate, will it be possible to recruit easily?
In the game called Locke, there were beings that could be companions for each branching route, and there were beings that appeared as villains.
I considered the compatibility of my co-workers, but after realizing the degree of relationship, I decided to unconditionally attract women as co-workers.
In that sense, Lee Ji-ah met all those conditions. He had a round personality and was persecuted in his family because of the characteristics of being a magician. With a little help, she can be recruited as an ally, and a person who can fight on the front line even in the latter half.
The same goes for Eun Soo-ah. This one is also cheesy, but he is a talented person who excels in terms of power. Even though she doesn’t feel like she’s being pushed back when fighting unmanned people because of her superpowers… That’s because the cover is easy.
On the contrary, Im Na-yeon thought it would be difficult, but it was easier than she thought. It seemed that the supplements to her magical powers and the things she taught me were effective. The downside is the powerless part, but it was okay because her powers can be covered to some extent.
Harin Kim was ambiguous. When I see something glancing at me, I think I can seduce you if I do well.
Yoon Seung-ha, the hero, was a bit ambiguous.
In terms of appearance alone, I’m higher, but Yoon Seung-ha is the main character of this game. As for her personality, she can’t stand injustice and is basically kind to everyone. That doesn’t mean he’s not a good friend either.
And above all, the main character is the main character for a reason.
So, there might be women who fall for Yoon Seung-ha.
And Han Jong-woo.
‘Han Jong-woo can’t.’
He’s a pretty capable kid, but when it comes to Lim Na-yeon, it’s hard to get his eyes wide open.
Han Jong-woo should be content with not becoming a villain and a close enough friendship to be able to cooperate with each other when necessary.
Anyway.
Among them, there is someone who will always stand on the side of his comrades once he has been ‘saved’. The illustrations come out well, and the existence that always looks at the main character. There is a being whose loyalty is so high that his nickname is a hunting dog. In fact, her species was half-canine.
I looked at her I saw an unfamiliar black hair. Then, the bangs were lowered to cover the eyes, but the burn marks slightly protruded. On top of that, it was emitting something like a gloomy aura… I understand. Because I lost my family not too long ago.
‘Ekola’s stigma.’
Ecola’s stigma is a curse… It is a kind of , but it was a bit vague. That’s because it’s a kind of buff-type ability that strengthens your own ability.
However, the curse was correct in the sense of making the opponent unhappy. Well, it’s a curse to make the other person unhappy.
I glanced and used knowledge browsing.
▼
Name: Siyeon Kim
Strength: 2
Agility: 2
Stamina: 2
Magic attribute: 0
Trait: Vessel of the Swamp Queen
Attribute: X
‘Found.’
It was fortunate. Actually, I know where she lives, but it wasn’t easy to go blindly. A natural encounter was important. I was thinking of going around until tonight if I had to, but…
When I looked at the status window, I could see my well-trained physical abilities. His magic power is 0. It was a natural story since he was an ordinary person who had not awakened yet.
I lowered my gaze to examine the unique ability. Bowl of the Swamp Queen. It is the ability to gain favor from beings related to the swamp. And it was also a bowl.
Bowl.
In this world, it is also the meaning of ‘body’ that is good for ‘existence in the outer dimension’. It can be a spirit, or a being called a phantom beast from the outer dimension.
To sum up, the villains’ plan is to raise her presence by stigmatizing her character, Kim Si-yeon, and make her a ‘personal sacrifice’ to her, and play a game. About a month later, the villains sacrifice her and summon her otherworldly presence.
Somehow the main character passes by this area and finds a trace of the curse and heals her, but if not, she is dedicated to a being from another world and manifests in this world. She and she wreck one city and are killed by the heroes. In the process, casualties on the side of the heroes are also quite large. From that point on, the villains are more active.
For that reason, the character Kim Si-yeon had her everything controlled without her knowledge.
Killing her parents, faking an accident.
Maximized the desires of her relatives to covet her parent’s legacy.
And cut off one or two of her human relationships.
She didn’t even allow me to meet her on the chat app.
‘Because of virginity…’
In relation to the sacrifice, the question of whether it was a virgin or a virgin was a very important one. This is because if a non-virgin sacrifice is offered, the being receiving the sacrifice gets angry and puts a curse on the being who performed the ritual. If the performer is weak, he may be torn to death.
That’s why the community jokingly called it a unicorn.
I walked over to Siyeon Kim. I could feel her startling as she looked at me.
“You’ve been cursed. Curse, do you want to break it?”
Went straight to the point. Because it is more reliable to release the curse with action than to wrap it up with all sorts of rhetoric.
And most of all, I absolutely believed in my appearance to women.
“A curse? How did I get cursed…”
“Because I’m a person who studies curses. Judging from the burn marks on your face, it took quite a while. About three months?”
Actually, I don’t know about that. It’s just because it’s mentioned in the game.
“…Then, do you know what the curse is on me?”
“Yes. It’s Ecola’s Curse. In fact… Even calling it a curse is kind of like a buff.”
“…Buff?”
“It’s a type of ability that says, “Have scars in exchange for strengthening your own ability. It takes quite a bit of resources, but…Well… More precisely, ‘sacrificing’ or ‘human sacrifice’ would be more accurate.”
“…A sacrifice?”
I deliberately used strong words. Actually, it’s not wrong. I could feel Kim Si-yeon’s voice tremble at my words.
“Yes, sacrifice. Your ability is related to it. And the curse placed on you is to amplify that curse.”
“Then can you break the curse?”
“Yes. I can protect you. And above all, don’t you want to get revenge?”
“Revenge is…”
She mumbled her words. It’s not that I don’t understand her feelings either. She still doesn’t know that the villains killed her parents.
“What do you think is the easiest way to get an offering?”
“Knapped?”
“Kidnapping is also kidnapping, but heroes take that very sensitively. Human sacrifice is terrible, but it’s so effective that it’s dangerous enough to blow up a city the moment you miss it.”
“…”
“So, most of them take care of human sacrifices. In a country like Korea where the land is small and there are a lot of talented people, it is never done… But if the sacrifice is very special, even the villains will change their minds. After losing them and isolating them, they take them out. In the process, they even kill people.”
“…No way.”
“Yes. Your parents were murdered. By the villain.”
“…”
Kim Si-yeon made a shocked expression. Her lips trembled. And she closed her eyes for a moment, then she gritted her teeth.
“Do you have any proof?”
I showed Ash’s cell phone.
Kim Si-yeon scrolled up her cell phone. Several letters appeared. Then she stopped her hand from raising her scroll. A wrecked car was seen on the screen of the phone. There was also a message reporting that the demons had killed it under the guise of an accident.
“Can you get revenge?”
“Of course. You are much more than you thought.”
***
We entered a nearby abandoned building. It is a building that is rumored to be demolished soon because it is so old. When I asked if he knew of a space where no one was nearby, it was Kim Si-yeon who taught me about it.
The summoning ceremony was prepared in a small and abbreviated manner.
Originally, consciousness is uneasy even if you prepare repeatedly, but it doesn’t matter as long as Kim Si-yeon. Because her very existence is so special to her wealth.
The summoning circle was drawn by spraying the blood of the sheep prepared in advance.
When she applied mana to her blood, it began to glow purple.
Whoops!
Although the building was surrounded on all sides, the wind began to blow. The wind lifted her hair. Mouth was dry. The presence of the existence that would come out from now on began to press down everywhere.
The breeze intensified, and soon turned into a storm. I urgently hugged Siyeon Kim. It was because Kim Si-yeon was likely to be hurt by the wind that was more intense than expected. When Kim Si-yeon couldn’t be held in my arms, she used mana to hold onto her body.
I felt something approaching over the rough summoning ceremony.
[Is it you who called me]
A deep voice was heard. I heard… The wording was not appropriate. It was a language that was etched in my head. It was exactly as it was in the game. Fortunately, it was the same here.
“Yes, I called you.”
[… Is it because of that child?]
“Yes. I’m here to fulfill the contract.”
[Awesome. That a single human knows that?]
I felt like letting out a long sigh.
[Are you happy though? In fact, I thought that the existence that inherited his blood had already disappeared. You are still in this world I will fulfill the contract. Girl, do you want power?]
The voice went to Siyeon Kim. She made Kim Si-yeon look worried for a moment, then closed her eyes and said.
“Hey, I want power.”
[I will fulfill the contract. You will gain strength as you wish. The price is your ability]
“I don’t have the ability?”
[There is. I just didn’t understand]
“In that case, I will make a contract.”
[Very good choice]
The wind blew fiercely as the words were engraved in my head.
The wind began to emit silver light. The wind made of silver is sucked into her forehead, and letters are engraved.
Letters were engraved, and silver letters glowed around Kim Si-yeon’s body. Her body was buoyed by the wind, and those around her began ravaging for mana.
Duduk. Duduk.
I could hear her bones twisting in her body. Her skin started cracking and cracking. It was the process of reconstructing her body. Her hair has changed From black hair to grayish color. Above her hair were grayish ears resembling those of a dog. A new tail also developed near her tailbone.
The wind has stopped. She landed quietly in the air.
She quietly opened her eyes. Golden eyes flashed.
“Here.”
I quietly took off her coat and handed it to her. It is no different, because all of her clothes disappeared in the process of reconstructing her body.
I quietly checked the status window.
▼
Name: Siyeon Kim
Strength: 15
Agility: 15
Stamina: 15
Magic attribute: 15
Unique Ability: Storm
Attribute: X
It was a distinctly different ability from before.
Unique ability changed. It probably has a few characteristics as well. The problem is that I can’t see it. I don’t know what kind of effect it was, but it was a bit painful to not be able to look at the characteristics by reading knowledge.
As if she didn’t realize it, she looked around her own body. I also touched her tail and touched her new ears a few times.
***
“Damn it!”
There was a man who was swearing and growling. His name is Woojin Kim.
He was the one who watched over Kim Si-yeon. After leaving her for a while due to her texting to Ash, he realizes that her curse on her is gone.
I’d be happy if that was all. The curse itself was rare, but somehow it was able to be avoided.
I could feel the flow of mana in the abandoned building. A violent flow of mana. It also felt a heterogeneous mana that could only be felt by beings in an outer dimension.
And that means that someone stole and used the offerings they made.
“What should I do?”
“Ouch.”
I gritted it and thought. Heading there now? That would be suicidal. Such a heterogeneous flow of mana was too good to attract attention. Perhaps the heroes have already been dispatched.
“Retreat.”
“But.”
“First, report first! After that, think later. And with that kind of mana flow, all the heroes would have been dispatched. Guilds and clans would also move.”
“…All right.”
Looking at the dissatisfied subordinate, Kim Woo-jin felt dizzy. The villains have the advantage of being able to release their desires to their heart’s content, but there were a lot of idiots.
Touching his sore head, he led his men into retreat.
I was going to do it.
It was a moment of blinking.
A woman appeared at some point in an empty space. She had short blue hair and eyes that reminded her of a lake.
“As expected, Siwoo was right. Does he really have the ability related to ‘Foresight’? It’s too extraordinary.”
I heard a woman muttering.
And the vision was twisted for an instant. She saw the familiar shape of her body in the clothes she was wearing. The same goes for her dozen of men who were with him. I couldn’t see anything that was supposed to run on his shoulder.
‘Oh, why is my body… ‘
And that was his last memory.
