Chapter 117 : Chapter 117

Chapter 117 - Resolution (4)

[Guys. How do you break Han Si-yeon’s curse? I can’t stand it anymore seeing her just die without the curse being broken every time I watch the newbie event cutscene ㅠ]

Once upon a time, such a question was posted on the Wikitree discussion board, where only hardcore Conqueror users gathered.

There was no way the community, where top-tier veterans who had poured their entire lives into this game, including me, resided, would miss such a question, and the question post that the newbie uploaded immediately turned into a chaotic mess reeking of the oil of old fossils.

[ Why is a newbie even touching that route? Are you insane?? You need to meet over 10 prerequisites to break the Baptism of Corruption ]

[ You’d get the gist in 3 seconds if you just searched, this is why lazy-fingered people always buy themselves trouble, right? ]

Of course, the majority of the reactions were ridicule and criticism rather than warm encouragement or comfort.

Until then, it was still one of the best-selling games in the country, so there was a culture of hazing newbies. Not long after, it changed to a culture of begging them not to leave, as befitting the level of a garbage game.

Anyway, the newbie then tearfully asked if there was really no way, and I remember the old fossils getting even more excited and laughing, saying, would that even be possible.

But around the time that topic was rolling around, I got a little curious too.

Is there really no easy way to clear this?

[ Did you get the Guardian Angel at the beginning? You can clear it easily if you just use that.]

[ I didn’t get it ㅠㅠㅠㅠ ]

[ Hmm... wait a moment. ]

So, I diligently researched a method on my own.

I tried this and that, regardless of what the other old fossils were sneering about.

Fortunately, I was able to find something proper before that newbie declared they were quitting the trash game while crying.

[ How about trying this? I found a way to do it without the Guardian Angel. It doesn't have many conditions either. ]

[ Ah seriously, cut the crapㅋㅋㅋ how can you do that without the Guardian Angelㅋㅋㅋ ]

[ I’ll attach a video. ]

And the reaction that followed was a crucible of shock.

[ ???????????? ]

[ ????????????????????? ]

[ Hey no, damn; how is this possible? ]

[ He’s a developer. I saw it myselfㅋㅋㅋ otherwise it makes no sense for realㅋㅋㅋ ]

Amidst that enthusiastic reaction, there was a rumor that the newbie I had answered the question for ended up quitting the game because the solution was too perverted.

Anyway, it meant I had found a solution that was more or less appropriate for the situation.

It was a story possible only with good reflexes, a sturdy mentality, and lots and lots and lots of potions.

And fortunately, I was in a position to meet all those conditions.

I had the former from the beginning, and I had piled up the latter while testing the performance of the Mysterious Vessel.

In that respect.

[ A fatal life crisis! ]

[ The activation condition for the ‘Guardian Angel Buff’ has been met! ]

[ Would you like to use the buff? Y/N ]

Even if such a window popped up in front of me.

I had the guts to touch N without hesitation.

***

“Kim Gyu-sik! Kim Gyu-sik-! S-stop!”

Seo Hye-in struggled as if she were having a seizure, trying to approach the barrier spread out towards Kim Gyu-sik in the center, but she was immediately stopped by Lee Si-yeong.

“Hey, wait a minute, get a grip! If you get close to that, the curse will stick to you too!”

“Then doesn’t that mean Kim Gyu-sik will get caught in it and die! I can’t just stand by and watch that!”

“He brought this upon himself! The catalyst he used was to change the curse target to himself!”

“Pardon? What does that mean...?!”

“There’s no way he would just charge in without a plan, knowing nothing about his personality, come on! Just watch for now! That’s why this barrier was put up!”

“The Baptism of Corruption is impervious to any shamanistic measures! Something like that can’t possibly help...!”

“That’s not a shamanistic measure.”

Seo Hye-in’s excitement instantly subsided.

The main reason was that it was too absurd.

If it wasn’t for that, then what was the reason for putting that up?

“...Pardon?”

“That’s just... how should I put it. It’s for anesthetizing that guy. To make him not feel pain.”

“...”

So, to summarize.

That man.

Was facing a curse known as the most terrible since the dawn of time.

And he just charged in with his bare body, merely anesthetized.

“...He’s a crazy bastard, isn’t he?”

“Yes. I cannot argue with that.”

Seo Hye-in replied as her mind began to clear.

At this point, a sense of trust began to grow. At least, considering the actions that man had shown so far, he wouldn’t have done such a thing with such flimsy grounds.

“By the way, what is he doing right now?”

Of course, even so, it didn’t mean she understood what Kim Gyu-sik was doing inside that barrier.

All he was doing was sitting in a meditative posture and occasionally sipping the potions he had brought.

For an action performed while his entire body was rotting in real time, it seemed too meaningless.

“So... he said he had to ‘get it exactly right’. That the timing had to be perfect.”

“What timing are you talking about?”

“I don’t know either. That’s all he said.”

“...He’s always like that.”

“Huh?”

At the sentence Seo Hye-in spat out in a boiling voice, Lee Si-yeong turned to her in surprise.

“Every time... he explains nothing. Does as he pleases. As if anything is possible... Don’t make me laugh. He should try being in the position of someone who worries. He should think about the position of someone watching from the side... What a fool, really...”

Muttering as if she had a lot pent up. Tears even welled up in her eyes as she spoke.

And there was an atmosphere in it that made Lee Si-yeong even more bewildered.

Well. What was this.

I didn’t know if it was an appropriate explanation, but.

It was like a newlywed bride who sent her husband off to a war far overseas and prayed for his safe return while looking at his picture every day?

“...Uh. Weren’t you a bit more of a calm image than this?”

“Seeing that... how can I be calm.”

As Seo Hye-in said in a deeply sunken voice, Kim Gyu-sik’s appearance right now was the very definition of wretched.

His skin had completely rotted away to the point where the musculoskeletal structure underneath was completely exposed. On top of that, even that was being encroached upon by decay, and he was slowly changing into a state where it wouldn’t be strange to be placed in a morgue rather than a living human.

But even in that situation.

As if he had done it dozens of times. He continued to sip potions with an unwavering motion while sitting still.

A normal person would have gone crazy, yet. Even though his eyeballs had rotted away and he had no sight. He continued, continued, continued.

“...Is it okay to trust him?”

“I don’t know either.”

Lee Si-yeong said, sweeping her hair back with a sigh.

“I’m just leaving him be because that guy asked me to trust him.”

And, while the two of them shared that tense sentiment.

The decay that had been eating away at Kim Gyu-sik finally reached his heart.

While the two of them watched, biting their lips tightly.

Kim Gyu-sik, who had been sitting still, suddenly raised his hand.

Then he flicked his wrist. As if asking for something to be passed to him.

It was absurd that he could exude that much composure even in that state of body, but now was not the time to focus on that.

“What, what is he asking to be passed to him?”

“This.”

Lee Si-yeong said, lifting up a sack full of potions with a grunt.

“So... right now.”

With a grunt of effort, the entire sack was tossed over into the barrier.

“...What does that solve? Just with potions?”

“...Damn it. I told you I don’t know either!”

Lee Si-yeong said and started biting her nails nervously.

It was an action that reflected her anxiety about what could possibly be done with that, having come this far.

And just as Seo Hye-in felt the urge to do something similar, the Baptism of Corruption finally penetrated deep into Kim Gyu-sik’s heart.

The moment the curse penetrated even the center of life activity.

“...Hoo.”

Kim Gyu-sik, who had been sitting quietly, immediately reached out and snatched the sack.

***

[ Achievement: You have reached the Threshold of Death! ]

[ You have successfully returned to life by your own power even in an extreme situation where a momentary mistake could have led to your demise. ]

[ As a reward, you will receive one additional Guardian Angel buff. ]

“...Oww, fuck.”

I really almost died this time.

I sighed and looked at my body recovering from the decay.

Wow, it was something I did with my eyes closed in the game, but doing it with my own life on the line was bound to be nerve-wracking.

“...Hey. You crazy. What the hell happened?!”

The first thing that came into my sight was Lee Si-yeong running towards me and saying that.

“I thought you were dead, but then the curse suddenly disappeared. And you revived as if you were resurrected. What the hell?!”

“...Well, it’s actually simple.”

The Baptism of Corruption was implemented in the game as tick damage that dealt a percentage of the character’s health per second. And it continued until the character’s ‘death judgment’ was triggered.

The important thing here was that ‘death judgment’.

Normally, a death judgment was triggered when health dropped below 0, but that standard of ‘below’ 0.

‘What happens if I make my health exactly 0?’

When I approached it with that question, well.

A rather interesting result came out.

A death judgment was triggered the moment the health became exactly 0, but if you hammered in a large amount of healing means at that exact moment, it was possible for that character to return to life after receiving the death judgment.

It was something even a top-tier veteran like me couldn’t do in the middle of a battle where complex spells and physical attacks were flying around, but it was somehow possible against a debuff like the curse of decay that depleted a fixed amount per second.

Of course, to do that, you had to continuously take potions at the right timing for fine-tuning, but if you couldn’t even do that much calculation, you didn’t deserve the title of a top-tier veteran.

“...You know. I usually thought you were a crazy bastard. But I’ve decided to think a little differently.”

Well, right.

No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t make sense for a normal person like me to have such a title-

“You’re a fucking crazy psychopath nutjob. If I called you a crazy bastard, real crazy bastards would get angry.”

“...”

“The fact that such an idea pops out is crazy in itself, but you actually do it? You’re really some kind of... let’s not even talk about it.”

“...”

Hey.

It hurts.

My mentality.

My mentality hurts more than my body that was under a very strong curse.

“Kim Gyu-sik-!”

And in that situation, without even time to get sentimental, Seo Hye-in, who had rushed over, grabbed my shoulders.

Her eyes were blazing.

Scary.

“...Yes. Well. This was the only way to resolve the curse, so please forgive me for treating your mother a bit roughly-”

“Never again.”

Seo Hye-in said, tears streaming down her face.

“...”

Uh. Wait a minute.

Tears?

“Never, do that again. Never again.”

“...Uh? Yes? Yes. Well, Seo Hye-in...?”

“Don’t, make me, worry... This time, I really thought, something would, happen to you...”

What.

Why was she crying.

Why? Why? What was this?

Si-yeong-mon, help me!

“...You handle it yourself.”

“...”

Lee Si-yeong quickly cut her losses and turned her body.

The speed of dumping a crashing stock would have been slower than that.

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