Free Web Novel“Pain?”
For a second, I had to think about what the hell it meant, asking if a bit of pain was alright when I’d just been grabbing it by the collar, ready to beat it senseless.
“It won’t be that bad. You’ve probably gone through it already, so you might even be used to it. I’m talking about what’s densely caught all over your mental state....”
“You mean the penalty? The thing where, if it gets bad, I die.”
“Right. Which is why you need to know how to control it properly. I’m not going to handle you as roughly as that kid who was next to you, so don’t worry. I can’t put out as much power as he can anyway, and I’m, how should I put it... a bit more precise.”
I frowned slightly as I listened to it.
“Im Haekyung?”
At that, it nodded.
It couldn’t match Im Haekyung’s power? If it had enough omnipotence to introduce itself as a god, wasn’t it only natural that it should far outstrip a human?
“The area I can affect is just different, that’s all. If you’re talking sheer, quantifiable power, I’m weaker than quite a lot of humans, you included.”
“Is that related to this dungeon being B-rank?”
“Yes.”
I nodded at its answer.
Well, it didn’t really matter. My original reason for coming here in the first place was just to raise my stats. Im Haekyung and Do Yehyun were contingencies I brought because you never know, and the top priority was to see with my own eyes whether the rumors around ‘Cheonmyeonggyo’ were justified.
I slowly repeated its words. freewёbnoνel.com
“You’re going to help me.”
“Yes. Just like the others.... You can already do that much anyway. All you need is a trigger.”
As it said that, it pointed at my hand. Reflexively, I opened my palm and looked at the mark there. The now-familiar pattern came into view.
“This isn’t mine.”
“What makes you think that? Are you planning to give back something once you’ve gotten it?”
“I have no intention of handing over the right to control my body to this thing.”
Why else do you think I’d gone through all that trouble for the Dragon Heart?
If you botched merging with a beast, the control over your body would end up getting handed over to that side. Even this thing in my hand tried to burst out the second my life was in any serious danger; I had no intention of giving it any more chances.
“I don’t want to merge with a beast.”
When I said it one more time, it widened its eyes like it really found that strange.
“Merge?”
“Every time my life’s hanging by a thread, it pops out and boosts my power however it wants. Figured if I went and merged with it on top of that, I’d be fucked.”
“But for that, you’re already deeply entangled. You can’t pull it back out anymore. It’s already part of your body.”
What?
I frowned as I answered.
“The mana hasn’t mixed. I heard it was divided off at the boundary of the mark.”
“That’s... us taking you into consideration.”
It said it like it was only natural. This time, it pointed toward my pocket and wrinkled its face slightly.
“Because you’re rejecting it on your side. Going so far as to dig up a dragon’s heart and jam it into your arm.”
I could feel the guard I’d shoved into my pocket earlier because it was getting in the way.
I slowly opened my mouth.
“So basically, I could merge with it anytime, but the only reason I haven’t is because I’m rejecting it?”
“Yes, and normally, you would’ve chosen that method.”
“Me?”
What kind of bullshit was that, saying the ‘original’ me had chosen that method?
Right then, a massive status window sprang up, cutting between it and me.
Warning.
Do not damage pl■usi■ility.
“Urgh....”
The moment the status window appeared, pain hit, and I grabbed my head. Its voice came to me, thick with interest.
“So this is where it starts.”
“What?”
Before I could even chew on its words, a savage headache crushed down over my body.
I tilted my head back and tried my best to suppress the pain. I didn’t know if this counted as a positive, but I’d gone through so many penalties that I could at least muddle through this much.
“I mean it literally. I told you, you originally chose that method. You’re not the type to ignore immediate gains over some hypothetical later risk.”
That was true. Even through the pain, I forced my mouth open to answer.
“...If the stakes hanging on it... are too big, I back off too.”
“Really? So there are parts that change as the runs pile up.”
Fuck, what the hell is it talking about? I had every intention of listening calmly, but the pain kept getting in the way.
Clenching my teeth, I slowly spoke.
“Shit.... Fuck, ah... turn the penalty off.”
“That’s... outside the domain of what I can do. You know that.”
‘Fuck. There’s a shitload of things you can’t do, aren’t there, you useless bastard.’
While I slowly sucked in breaths and hurled curses, it slowly reached its hand toward me.
“But it would be a problem if the main branch changed just because you don’t want it right now.”
“What?”
When pain gets fierce enough, the minor sensations get small enough to ignore. ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) Even when I watched its hand feel along my palm, I could barely feel it in any real sense.
I didn’t shake it off; I focused on what it was saying instead.
‘It says it would be a problem if the main branch changed.’
While I stayed still, it looked up at me from below, studying me, blinking.
“This maze is going to be destroyed soon. And you’ll stay behind in the collapsing maze along with your companion, and with your own strength, you’ll be able to tear your way through him. I don’t know how many you’ll lose, but in the end, this maze is a space of thought. It’s a mental domain and a place altered by the mind, so you’re absolutely favored.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll pull out around then. Cut my losses. There’ll be some pain and some loss, but it’ll be bearable.”
As it said that, it suddenly burst into laughter. It was a kind of laughter completely different from before, colored with a sort of satisfaction.
“Ah.... Really, I’m so fortunate you came to find me like this.”
“What?”
The next moment, its words cut off for a bit. I instinctively widened my eyes to read its lips.
“...that I get to join ... is my good luck. You’re going to exist for a very long time, and just the fact that I took part in this dramatic development means you’ll believe in me.”
Its words had stopped, but I could still read the movement of its mouth on the other side of the warning window. It was no different from what the warning window was spelling out.
Plausibility.
‘Sounds about right.’
All this warning window did when it flashed was tell me not to damage plausibility. So did that mean this act damaged plausibility?
‘What kind of bullshit is this “development” supposed to be?’
My vision swam from the repeated warning windows, and the pain was brutal on top of that. Trying to listen carefully to what it was saying through all that made it impossible to think straight.
At some point, I felt its hand on my shoulder. A voice, sharp and clear, slid into my ear.
“Your desire is very simple. You want to get away from the destiny that’s already been set.”
“.......”
“That’s exactly the sort of path that doesn’t suit me at all.... But if we call your twisted, fixed destiny another kind of fixed destiny, then I can accept it to some degree.”
“...What?”
Warning.
Do not damage pl■usi■ility.
A status window even bigger than before filled my entire field of view. I was actually starting to feel short of breath.
“Ah, fuck....”
A groan slipped out for a second and vanished. I sucked in a breath and pressed my fingers to my brow.
“Move.”
With that, I shoved its shoulder roughly, forcing some distance between us. Whether I did or not, it seemed dead set on triggering penalties as it kept talking.
“Let’s send you back to the original you and have you join ... again. You’ve come this far doing whatever you want, so from here on, it should proceed the original way.”
“What?”
Before I could even repeat myself, it whispered clearly to me.
“Jehyun.”
The act of it calling my name felt bizarre. The name itself suddenly sounded alien.
“I hope we can meet again in a better ....”
With those words, it shoved me hard. I reflexively staggered back to open up some space, and it felt like the dark space around us suddenly flicked off.
In the moment I reached my hand out to grab something, the figure I’d seen so clearly went dark in an instant, and my whole body dropped straight down.
***
I opened my eyes.
It was the most basic thing you could do if you wanted to avoid the dark and see the light.
The first thing I saw when I lifted my eyelids was light. Not a single isolated light stuck in a dark space, but light that filled the entire space.
And then, one by one, my other senses woke up. An unfamiliar warning sound pounded loudly against my ears.
‘A warning sound?’
The last warning sound I’d heard was the one in the maze that marked the coming of night.
If that was the case, was this still the ‘maze’?
I pushed myself up and looked around.
A barren space with no one in sight. The floor was covered endlessly with something white, and because of that, it was so bright around me that a sharp sting sparked in my eyes.
‘...Snow?’
The moment I reflexively pressed my hand to the floor, the area around me began to freeze rapidly, starting from my hand.
And when I lifted my head, a familiar status window came into view.
P■■■■■■ity for Destruction...... 17%
‘What?’
P■■■■■■ity for Destruction...... 18%
P■■■■■■ity for Destruction...... 19%
P■■■■■■ity for Destruction...... 20%
