Chapter 132

Chapter 132

The itchiness in Hyukjin’s heart was expelled in the form of ‘words’. He fell into a trance. His subconscious read the world and looked directly into Ahn Seohye’s ‘darkness’.

His subconscious found the common point between his previous self and the current Seohye.

‘I was like you, once.’

The world hadn’t been on his side. His mom had died from illness—to be more precise, she had died because they lacked the money to treat her—and his sister had gotten leukemia. He’d blamed everything on his lack of talent, living in the moldy half-underground room he called home, thinking he should just do his best tomorrow, too. Thinking that his day would come. That someday, things would be alright. How nice that would be. It was hard now, but how nice it would be if things got better.

That was how he’d lived.

‘No. I still had it better than you.’

At the very least, he had a family. Seohye didn’t even have that. She only had a disgusting man who couldn’t even be called a father.

Having looked straight at the darkness in Seohye’s heart, an incantation flowed from Hyukjin’s lips.

Observation.

Empathy.

Will.

And on top of that, her confession of trust.

“Trust is the truth of desires—”

“And the proof of what cannot be seen.”

A state of will, and will-lessness. An incantation Hyukjin was speaking, but not speaking. It was the Will Incantation, but not one he was manifesting completely with his will alone.

No, it came from a deeper place, one that was more primal. A place of instinct. The words continued to fall from his lips.

“One who trusts even without seeing shall live even in death.”

“Thy cry of agony and entreaty, I have heard.”

“And thus shall I sublimate thy lacerating suffering into peace and joy.”

Hyukjin paused to catch his breath.

“I stand upon iron trust and faith and do proclaim:”

Before, the Will Incantation Hyukjin recited was an incantation to topple ‘false authority’.

This time, it was different.

‘I will help you.’

The ability to see the darkness within a girl’s heart, to share and empathize with that darkness on a deeper level, his sincere desire to help the poor girl in front of him, and the trust of the girl who desperately wanted help—all of it converged into the ‘Incantation of Salvation’.

[You who trust.]

[I command thee. Open thy eyes and face the world.]

The timing came to him as naturally as the words, like he had been born knowing this, like it was inscribed in his very cells.

[You have successfully uttered the Will Incantation.]

[Temporarily increasing the grade of Hand of Extraction based on the completion level of the Will Incantation.]

Hyukjin saw that the formless energy created through the incantation, the powerful desire and wish he had harnessed, was amassing on his hand.

It had neither form nor color, but it was visible to Hyukjin’s eyes. The eye that discerned the true nature of things, Eye of Perception, made it visible to him, and his infinite talent made that possible.

‘Now.’

He drew out his strength. This wasn’t the ordinary use of a skill. He artificially controlled the flow of mana through a skill.

‘Along with the power of the desire manifested by the incantation…’

Golden light burst out from Hyukjin’s right hand.

[The temporary ability ‘Hand of Extraction’ is being changed to the temporary ability ‘Hand of Salvation.’]

[Using the Hand of Salvation.]

Hyukjin could feel it.

“Seohye. It’s going to hurt a little.”

“…”

Seohye was trembling from head to toe. She was struck with the feeling that some kind of powerful exterior force was tying her down.

“What I can say to you right now is this:”

What Hyukjin could say at this moment was nothing special.

“Trust me.”

He gave neither reasoning nor basis. He simply asked her to trust him.

“I will help you.”

He was being sincere. Seohye must have seen that, because her state instantly changed.

State: Unconscious Trust / Weak Fear / Increasing Faith

And then, Hyukjin knew. This was the moment. This was the optimal time to discharge the energy of the Hand of Salvation he had gathered and amassed in his right hand.

The palm of Hyukjin’s right hand covered Seohye’s eyes. Radiant golden light shone from his hand, while wicked red light gleamed from Seohye’s eyes.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”

Seohye screamed. Despite having entered a trance again, Hyukjin could hear it. He, too, was unable to speak.

‘You have to overcome it.’

His right hand was over Seohye’s eyes, and his left hand grabbed hers. The girl’s hand was incredibly cold.

‘I don’t know how much comfort this will be to her, but…’

He didn’t know if holding her hand would bring any reassurance, if sharing his heat with this cold hand could be of any help. But he still held on in the hopes it would bolster her.

Seohye’s screams became sharp stakes that stabbed Hyukjin’s ears.

‘It must… hurt a lot.’

Right now, he was in a state of deep emotional communion with Seohye. Though indirect, he could approximate the depth of the terrible agony she was feeling.

Right now, Hyukjin was extracting the ‘Red Eyes’, using not the Hand of Extraction, but the Hand of Salvation.

‘The Shepherd Boy is a son of a bitch, too.’

If the Shepherd Boy had really exerted himself, if he had really gone all out, he would have gifted Hyukjin the Hand of Salvation rather than the Hand of Extraction to begin with.

‘If I had unknowingly used the Hand of Extraction… Seohye would have become blind for life.’

The Shepherd Boy probably knew that. But it seemed such a trifling detail was of no concern to the Guardian.

‘He just focused on getting the Red Eyes.’

But the situation was different now. If the Red Eyes were extracted with the Hand of Salvation, only the ‘energy of the Red Eyes’ would be extracted. Seohye’s eyes would be left intact.

A long time passed.

Hyukjin’s back was completely drenched in sweat. Seohye lost consciousness and collapsed. Hyukjin’s body was trembling uncontrollably.

‘It’s done.’

The next moment, a massive wave of weakness swallowed him.

“It’s d—”

Hyukjin’s body toppled onto Seohye’s with a thud. His right hand dropped limply to his side, holding something that looked like a red marble.

Roll.

The red marble fell out of Hyukjin’s hand and rolled away, promptly catching Darongi’s eye.

[!!!]

The squirrel scampered after it and picked it up. The red marble was bigger than his body.

He hemmed and hawed, deliberating for a long time.

[;;;]

Should he open his mouth and eat it, or not? He hesitated.

[!!!]

Let’s eat it! he thought, and opened his mouth wide, but then—

[;;;]

He shook his head with an expression that seemed to say, ‘No, I can’t.’

[…]

In the end, Darongi moved the marble to his Inventory without eating it. Seized by a pique of anger, he stomped over and clambered onto the unconscious Hyukjin’s back.

[!!!]

He stomped on Hyukjin and also pummeled his cheeks with his tiny fists. On one hand, it looked like he was venting his frustration on Hyukjin for dropping such a tasty-looking thing and making him suffer such a trial, while on the other, it seemed the squirrel was trying to wake his master up.

A long time passed. I heard a voice.

“…alright?”

I slowly opened my eyes. My bleary vision brightened.

“Are you alright?”

A familiar voice.

It was my little sister Kim Sunhwa, the child who came with me to this place, the ‘Player Center’.

“Are you alright?”

Sunhwa’s eyes were wet with tears.

“I’m alright. I only fainted because I used too much strength for a moment there.”

With a sob, Sunhwa grabbed me in an embrace. She must have been really worried. “You were unconscious for an hour!” she wailed.

“Are you okay?”

Song Kiyeol was standing behind Sunhwa.

“Yes, I’m alright.”

“As you instructed in advance, I didn’t transfer you to the hospital, but…”

“Yes, you did well. Where did the child who was here go?”

“She was panicking, saying she couldn’t see. We’re calming her down, for now.”

“I see.”

She might not be able to see for a little bit. But because I had used the Hand of Salvation and not the Hand of Extraction, her vision would soon return.

“Darong.”

I fainted, but my all-seeing eye didn’t faint along with me. Even though I didn’t physically see it, I knew.

[?]

The squirrel blinked innocently at me. His expression claimed, ‘I know nothing,’ but unfortunately for the squirrel, his master was an ‘Observer’.

“You got it, right?”

Darongi shook his head. [;;;] marks popped up above his head.

“Fine. Just know there won’t be any fried chicken for you in the future.”

I jerked into a walk, the sudden motion causing Darongi to tumble from my shoulder. He barely managed to grab onto my t-shirt and hung on for dear life.

I heard a notice.

[‘Darongi’ is requesting you to open his Inventory.]

Darongi 0, Fried Chicken 1. As I walked backwards, a smile hung on my lips.

* * *

I returned home. Thankfully, Seohye calmed down quickly, and her eyesight was slowly recovering, too. For the time being, she went back to the protective services facility. I had asked Kiyeol to take special care of her, so she was probably getting at least VVIP treatment.

‘There’s another yellow charm.’

Taped to the underside of my desk was, as always, a yellow charm filled with Noona’s wish. I was dumbfounded that she was still writing those. Whoever had her as their sister was one lucky bastard. She was one devoted sis.

‘So now…’

Red Eyes

–

‘The Shepherd Boy must know that I got this.’

Senia had streamed everything. It wasn’t my intention, but it was probably a pretty dramatic scene.

‘The Shepherd Boy must also know what exactly this is.’

I knew it was an item the Shepherd Boy really needed. So what should I do with it?

[Find the Red Eyes.]

The quest linked to the ‘Note from the Shepherd Boy’. Find the ‘Red Eyes’ and deliver it to an Intermediate Administrator.

Reward: – (currently hidden)

Normally, the reward was shown. In other words, that meant this wasn’t a normal case.

‘Something’s bothering me.’

And yet, I couldn’t just blatantly ignore the Shepherd Boy’s quest. He was a Guardian of financial stature and power incomparable to the likes of the Ruler of the Plains, the Guardian I’d turned into my enemy.

It might bother me and I might not like it, but it was true that he was a big force to reckon with. He even granted a title called the ‘Thousand Dog Master’ from a single linked quest. His strength was massive.

It was important to keep public and private affairs separate. I needed to maintain a business relationship with the Shepherd Boy.

‘It heckles me to just hand this over.’

But I couldn’t avoid doing so altogether, either. I couldn’t handle the Shepherd Boy on my own. I had to move the other Guardians, and in a way that would let me secure the greatest profit possible in this situation. To siphon as much profit using everything at my disposal.

‘I have to be careful.’

Messing with the Guardians was dangerous. One misstep, and you could be stamped as an ‘official foe’. If that happened, Playing would become much more tiresome.

I didn’t show any of my thoughts outwardly. I just laid on my bed like I was limp with exhaustion, acting like I was sleeping.

Tick. Tock.

I heard the ticking of the clock. Each tick sounded almost like a heavy footstep.

After quite a lot of footsteps, a lot of time, I slowly opened my eyes. Like I had always done, I drew out the scenario in my mind.

‘There’s no guarantee it’ll go exactly as I plan.’

Despite that, I felt a little confidence take root within me.

“Senia.”

I called Senia, and sure enough, she had been watching me the whole time. She appeared immediately.

Every step from here on out was important.

‘Starting now, I’ll draw a new picture.’