Chapter 2176 – 2176. Curse
I was taken aback looking at the woman.
Before coming here, Miryeong had shown me the woman’s face. Since she was a streamer, finding her picture was easy. Just typing in her BJ name would bring up photos online.
What surprised me was that the woman’s face was different from what I knew. Not just her face, but her figure too. Her figure was somewhat similar, but her face felt like a completely different person.
“Is this really her? Are we sure we came to the right place? Her face is different.”
She wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t pretty either.
“Come on. Do you think I’d make such a mistake? This is the right woman. She collapsed because of a curse, didn’t she? Her face… it’s like this without camera filters. These days, all BJs use camera filters. Oh, but not me, of course.”
“I know about filters, but… how much did she filter it?”
I looked back and forth between the woman on the smartphone and the woman in front of me. No matter how much I looked, they didn’t seem like the same person.
“Well, since she’s unconscious, it’ll be easier.”
“Wait a minute. Looking at her in person, her condition is strange. She’s got three curses on her.”
“So?”
“The curse I deflected was a curse that weakens and drains energy. Normally, a curse that drains energy should disappear after the caster pays a suitable price.”
“…So, she has two curses on her? What’s the other one?”
“It’s a curse that weakens the mind. A curse that gradually weakens the mind, making it difficult to control oneself. It’s a bit different from the curses I know, but… the effect will be the same.”
Two were curses that were deflected, and one was a curse that was already there. After thinking for a moment, I came to a conclusion.
“Was this woman used?”
“Probably. The real culprit is likely someone else. They’re probably draining her energy. Using someone else to curse and absorb energy… That’s the work of a curse caster. And a pretty skilled one at that.”
“Even if she was used, it’s true that this woman cursed you. Let’s kill her.”
“Come on. She’s a victim. Let’s spare her. This isn’t the [Ascension of Light] world. I don’t want to kill anyone if I can help it.”
I looked back and forth between Miryeong and the woman, as if in thought. Then, Miryeong put her hands together and acted cute.
“Please~ Honestly, we didn’t suffer any harm, did we?”
Is reality special to Miryeong? Or is it just a whim?
Either way, this was also Miryeong’s matter, so I decided to respect her decision.
“…If that’s what you think. But I won’t let that culprit go.”
“Since there’s a curse that drains energy, if we trace it back… hmm. I expected it, but it’s not that far away. Next, let’s undo the curse and hear this person’s story.”
“If we’re going to talk, wouldn’t it be better to do it somewhere else?”
“It’s okay. We’re the victims, after all.”
Miryeong used her energy to perform a spell. Light flowed from her hands and forcibly released the curses on the woman’s body. As soon as the evil energy touched the light, it disappeared without a trace.
“You’re not sending the curse back to the culprit?”
“It wouldn’t do much damage anyway. Do you think a curse caster wouldn’t have prepared for that? It would only serve to make them more alert. It’s better to just get rid of the curse.”
The woman still hadn’t woken up. Miryeong took her hand and poured some of her energy into the woman.
As soon as the woman opened her eyes, she screamed at the sight of us.
“Huh?! Kyaaaaaaak?!”
“Oops. Sound block. Sound block.”
Miryeong created a small barrier to block the sound. Then, she put a finger to her lips and smiled sweetly.
“Shhh. Please be quiet. BJ Kkot-Somi. Being too loud is a nuisance to others.”
“Y-Youre, Fox Spirit? Why is Fox Spirit in my house?! Who is that man?! D-Did you…!”
What is this woman saying? I wouldn’t take a woman like her even if she was free.
I was about to snap back but stopped. I decided to leave this woman’s matter to Miryeong.
‘She doesn’t recognize me? I thought she might.’
I had been on TV and had been a hot topic once. But fame was fleeting. After not being mentioned on other video media for a few months, I was forgotten by the public.
“Yes, yes. It’s Fox Spirit. I couldn’t resist Kkot-Somi’s passionate support, so I came directly to Kkot-Somi’s house. You can report me to the police. But before that, you’ll have to explain to the police how you cursed me.”
“……”
BJ Kkot-Somi’s face turned pale.
There was a Hunter Law in the world.
A law that applied to hunters.
More accurately, it could be called the Awakened Law. It was a law that imposed harsher penalties when an Awakened person abused their powers. Also, even if one was not an Awakened person, if they committed a crime using the powers of artifacts or scrolls, they would be punished under the Hunter Law.
Even if Kkot-Somi was an ordinary person, she would receive aggravated punishment under the Hunter Law for using a curse.
“You’ll get at least 10 years in prison. So, let’s settle this quietly. Oh, I don’t want money. If you just answer my questions, I’ll pretend this never happened.”
“I, I just…”
“I’m not here to listen to your excuses, Kkot-Somi. How did you curse me? You’re an ordinary person, aren’t you?”
Kkot-Somi shed tears and trembled as she took something out of her pocket. It was a pendant that had lost its luster. It was a shabby pendant that looked like it would sell for about a thousand won on the street.
“I can feel the traces of a curse. You used this to curse me.”
“…Yes. I heard it was a curse of weakness…”
“Where did you get it?”
“I, I got it in a nearby alley. An old woman was selling artifacts for 100,000 won… Artifacts are things that are hard to get unless you’re a hunter. I was curious, so I bought it.”
“So, you didn’t intend to use it on me from the start?”
“…No. I did have that intention too.”
Kkot-Somi lowered her head. Seeing the back of her head, my fist itched. Shouldn’t I just kill her? Miryeong, who met my eyes, shook her head.
“Did that old woman mention me?”
“Ugh, I can’t remember well when I try to think about it suddenly… I think she might have…”
“Was it really an old woman?”
“…Was it an old man? I think they were young… Ugh… I, I can’t remember. It’s not a lie, it’s true!”
“That’s the curse caster’s trick. Okay, we’ll be going now. Let’s pretend today never happened.”
“Yes, yes. But who is the man next to you…?”
“He’s my husband, of course!”
Miryeong, who had rushed over, linked her arm with mine. Her chest touched my arm. My unpleasant mood suddenly improved.
“This is a secret. If Kkot-Somi keeps her mouth shut, I’ll keep mine shut too, don’t forget that.”
We went outside and got into the car. Miryeong took the wheel.
“Miryeong, you don’t have a driver’s license.”
“Ha, please. I’m an S-rank best driver who set a world record, you know?”
“Racing games and reality are different.”
“Just trust me and don’t say anything!”
I sat in the passenger seat, tensing my body so I could use hacking at any time. There was no need to use hacking. There was no need to use hacking. She really was the best driver.
“We’re going to where the culprit is, right?”
“Yes. He tried to use his accomplice, Kkot-Somi… He has to pay the price. Hehe.”
“What I don’t understand is… did he try to target you using Kkot-Somi? Wasn’t it a coincidence that Kkot-Somi cursed you?”
“He put a mind-weakening curse on Kkot-Somi and used suggestion to make her target me. Even if it failed, Kkot-Somi would be punished. The reason that culprit targeted me… well, it’s like the fate of a beautiful woman. You know. I get all sorts of weird messages in my emails and DMs.”
That’s right. There was even a guy who sent nude photos to my personal email. Miryeong ignored it, but I secretly found some of the guys I didn’t like, killed them, and buried their bodies in the Ascension of Light world.
“Do you know what’s an easy way for a curse caster to make money?”
“Hmm. Killing people with curses and stealing their wealth?”
“That’s robbery. There’s a risk. They put a curse on a rich person, approach them by mentioning the curse, and make money by removing it. As a bonus, they can get close to the cursed person. This incident is similar to that. He’ll try to approach me by using the fact that I’m cursed… In modern terms, it’s gaslighting.”
“This is… an unforgivable bastard.”
I decided that I wouldn’t let him die easily.
The place we arrived at was even more run-down than Kkot-Somi’s neighborhood. Most of the houses in the neighborhood were empty, and the few residents we saw were all elderly.
The culprit was a man in his late 20s. A guy who smelled like rotting corpses.
“Y-You’re Fox Spirit? How did you get here?!”
“Wow. I expected it, but you’re a really disgusting man.”
“N-No. It’s a good thing. Become my woman, Fox Spirit!”
The man raised his mana. A foul, sludge-like energy swirled around him.
[Using Moment. Remaining stacks: 11]
I instantly appeared in front of the man and swung my fist.
Thwack!
“You bastard. Am I invisible?”
Perhaps because his concentration was broken, the man’s energy scattered. Judging by how he handled mana, he was at least a C-rank, but his combat power seemed lower than that.
“Cough! You, you?!”
“I’m Fox Spirit’s man.”
“Aww. My husband!”
Miryeong came over and rubbed her face against my shoulder. The man looked shocked, then his face turned red as he shouted.
“Y-You, you slut! You said you didn’t have a boyfriend!”
“That’s obviously a lie. If I said I had a boyfriend, my viewership would drop.”
“You bitch! Do you know how much I sponsored you?”
“Hmm. Were you a fan? How much did you sponsor?”
“Thirty million won! I sponsored you thirty million won!! Do you know how hard it is for a curse caster to make money? I gave you the money I saved for three years!! How could you do this to me?!”
“Ah, I gave most of that money to my husband. In the first place, that sponsorship account is my husband’s account. Hehe.”
“This can’t be…! This can’t be happening! Fox Spirit was a slutty bitch!”
“No, no. That’s a bit harsh. Anyone who hears that will think I’m a woman who sleeps around. My body has always been my husband’s alone, from the past until now, you know?”
Miryeong snapped her fingers. With a snap, blue flames appeared and burned the man’s body moderately. The man, who was burned all over, screamed. I kicked the man’s body. Just in case, I interrogated him.
He didn’t belong to any organization. He had used Kkot-Somi because she had happened to catch his eye.
“Oh, looking closely, this guy has a curse on him too?”
“A curse?”
“Yes. It’s a pretty high-level curse… If I were to interpret it, it’s a curse that forcibly steals consciousness… It’s a curse I’ve never seen before. Let’s trace back who put the curse on him…”
Boom.
The man’s body exploded like a bomb.
I had been prepared in case he had a hidden card, so as soon as his body started to swell, I used Moment to pull Miryeong into my arms and retreated.
“Ah, thank you. My husband.”
“Did you succeed in tracing it back?”
“I don’t know the exact location. It was too far away. The approximate location is… Europe? Yes. It was there.”
“……”
My face hardened.
A human bomb terrorist.
I was reminded of an S-class criminal who had once terrorized Europe.
‘That guy was subdued by European S-class hunters and executed.’
That was a whole 10 years ago.
A criminal whose abilities were so heinous that he was known worldwide. The human bomber, Rezo.
