SWNOVELXO Chapter 35
Episode 35: A Reward for a Good Child
Did she get a location tracker?
‘It wasn’t particularly precious, but how, why?’
I couldn’t stop doubting Harin.
‘Could it be… she realized the golden rule?’
【Golden Rule?】
– Beep beep beep~♪
A call came in.
– Kang Eunbyul
– Swallow.
I unconsciously swallowed my saliva.
I slid to answer the call.
“Y-yes…?”
My voice came out small due to my tension.
– Hello?… There’s no one around, right?
“Yeah, there’s no one.”
– Hoo… Okay, first, where are you now?
“I’m? I’m outside my house. Oh, by the way, I didn’t go to the association.”
– Good. Alright. Come to our hideout this morning. I’m hanging up now.
Is the situation getting serious?
I automatically stiffened at Eunbyul’s increasingly tense tone.
Still holding my smartphone to my ear.
【What are you doing? Didn’t the other party hang up?】
“First, let’s go home.”
【Uh? Yeah, got it.】
“I’ll tell you everything once we get home. And.”
【Yeah… If you tell me quickly, I’d appreciate it. And?】
“And… I need to go out for a bit this morning.”
【Why?】
“I’ll explain everything when I add that. You don’t have to follow me there—”
【No way. I’m going too.】
**********
We returned home.
I immediately sat down on the mattress.
Chaewon did the same.
I directly revealed my suspicions about myself since I knew she wouldn’t be able to disclose my secrets elsewhere. I shared everything without hiding the facts.
In fact, there wasn’t much to explain grandly.
Just the functions of the system.
To put it simply, I explained everything about me.
Now, there shouldn’t be anything else Chaewon asks me… probably.
There was a lot of time left until dawn.
How did my life turn out like this?
What is my purpose?
Sometimes people look back on the path they’ve walked.
In those moments, they usually wonder if the path they have taken is the wrong one.
Or if they regret having walked this road.
When one has already looked back, they find themselves too far along to turn back.
I too look back.
The path I’ve walked.
Simply put, after getting dumped by my ex-girlfriend, I barely survived in an EX-rated dungeon and obtained the system, growing to utilize that ability.
The road I’m walking down.
My initial goal was just to resolve my thirst for revenge.
Now I just have to watch her fall slowly.
But why do I risk my life for growth? That’s the question.
At first, it was out of a sense of responsibility.
I have to help Eunbyul.
Even if you were forced into it, you are a member of the villain Golden Rule.
But.
Excluding all those excuses.
The only honest answer to that question is one.
The path I must walk.
What does the system want from me, and what does it want to tell me?
Why did gates come to exist in this world?
The reason I grow is to resolve my curiosity.
I can’t stand the things I’m curious about.
Yeah. I’m pathetic, selfish, and self-centered… that’s the kind of person I am.
But over half of the world is just as messed up as I am.
Do you know? Everyone is essentially an “actor.”
Everyone is repeating a play every day.
People are only acting so they can live on this ‘stage’ called “reality.”
Their true feelings are not that different.
Only a few live according to their true hearts.
Wearing a mask of smiles.
Always ready to stab a knife in the back.
We call such people “adults.”
It’s merely a skill one must learn to survive when they become an adult.
To survive, I must suppress others.
I’m sorry, but it can’t be helped.
The conversation drifted to another topic.
… I hope none of this becomes a dream.
The time has come.
Time has passed.
Now it’s morning.
Before heading to the Golden Rule’s hideout, I decided to receive the blessings of the potent drugs I had grown.
I drank all the potions that changed my appearance kept in a corner of the house.
They tasted like old tap water.
I filled my stomach with water.
“Shall we head out slowly?”
Looking out the window, it was raining heavily.
I thought about waiting for the rain to stop, but I felt like it would brighten out by then.
I grabbed an umbrella and opened the front door.
That was when it happened.
“Cough! Cough!”
Each time I coughed, I felt a piercing sensation in my heart.
I eventually knelt down and hesitated.
【W-What? Are you okay?】
There was blood on my shoes.
Blood from my coughing fit.
“Shit… This can’t… No, it can’t be…”
– Ding!
[Severe debuff detected!]
“Ugh… Buff, status… view…”
– Ding!
[Viewing the buff window, currently, ‘Han Shiwoo’ has the following buffs.]
[Buff Window]
Buff: None
Debuff: Curse of Forbidden Magic
==========
‘Insight into the Curse of Forbidden Magic.’
– Ding!
[Attempting to check the details of another’s skill.]
[Information]
Name: Curse of Forbidden Magic (EX)
Features: Debuff, Curse (Dispel immunity)
Skill Description: A curse made of special magic continuously makes the blood flow out of the finest veins. (Classified as a deadly curse. May result in death.)
Cannot be treated.
Only those with the most sacred powers can weaken this illness.
{My dream ends… Your nightmare begins.}
==========
EX-rated.
That black-armored guy must be someone who is not ordinary.
If I hadn’t been dominated by Parasite, I probably wouldn’t have left a trace like this.
【Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?!】
“Ugh… Let’s just set out for now.”
【Uh…】
First, I need to meet Eunbyul.
**********
– Crash!
Lightning struck hard.
Thunder boomed in response.
Rain was coming down steadily.
Green nature.
Thick darkness.
And under my feet, a manhole cover.
It was still slippery with moss.
First, I folded the umbrella.
I opened the manhole cover and climbed down the ladder.
【.. What is this? A sewer under the manhole cover…? No, more importantly, why are we going in there?】
‘Be quiet and follow me.’
【… Ugh…】
I jumped down from the ladder.
【Oh, the inside is clean? There’s not even a single odor!】
I walked for about three minutes and found the door to the hideout.
Honestly, it felt a bit nostalgic to return.
I took out my smartphone and texted Eunbyul.
I couldn’t open this door by myself.
I didn’t know the password.
– Creak.
“Come in. It’s been a while?… And you’re using that face well.”
“Yeah.”
“Honestly, I can’t really tell the difference…”
As soon as we saw each other, we began talking.
– Click.
I heard the sound of the door closing again.
We walked to the living room and sat in our respective chairs.
I figured I should calm Chaewon, who was obviously flustered.
‘This is the golden rule I talked about earlier—’
【Wow, that girl has huge breasts!… Did she grow them with medicine? Or was it surgery? There’s no way that size is natural!】
‘… What?’
【I think she’s the biggest I’ve ever seen! We didn’t have anyone with such big breasts at Dad’s company either!】
‘It was my mistake to worry about you… Just stay put.】
【Hmph. Well, anyway, my voice won’t be heard, so what’s the problem?】
Chaewon soon lost interest and wandered off to look around like a curious puppy.
“Shiwoo. Why is your location tracker missing?”
A strong straight question came right at me.
“Well… I think someone else might have taken it.”
“Really? So you didn’t take it yourself?”
“Uh… Yeah.”
I couldn’t meet Eunbyul’s eyes, feeling like I was the one who had done something wrong.
“Okay. Then let me rephrase the question. Someone else took the tiny micro location tracker implanted in your body?”
“Yeah… It seems like that.”
Eunbyul looked at me, resting her chin on her hands, as if she couldn’t believe what I had said.
“Do you think that makes sense? That it was taken out from a painful spot? There’s no way you wouldn’t notice.”
I fell into thought.
Should I say this?
I’m not sure, but it seems like that person Baek Harin took it.
Should I tell Eunbyul?
I felt as if I was betraying Harin.
Which side should I stand on?
I found myself at a crossroads.
A binary choice.
A problem I hate but face the most.
If I miss the chance to speak now, I’d surely regret this moment forever.
Still, my choice was option three.
I would push her.
I would protect her.
Neither answer.
“I’ll look into it at the association.”
If I mention someone suspicious here, it would definitely be OUT.
They would interrogate that person.
“Ha… Okay, as long as you handle it well, that’s fine.”
“Ugh…”
A sigh of relief escaped me.
“By the way, Shiwoo, you seem to have become stronger?”
“Oh, can you tell?”
I quickly became puffed up with confidence.
“Yeah, I knew my eyes weren’t wrong. It’s actually that you’ve been hiding your strength.”
“… Well, it’s not like I was specifically hiding it.”
“Um….”
Eunbyul seemed to be contemplating something.
Then suddenly, she took off the coat she was wearing.
“Ha… Even with the air conditioning on, it feels a bit warm. I thought autumn was coming.”
“Autumn is coming, but considering the position of this hideout, doesn’t it seem meaningless?”
In fact, autumn will soon arrive.
“And even though we’re underground, there isn’t a single bug. I don’t know who does it, but it seems like they clean up very well.”
I praised the place that had no bugs.
“Hmm… Good, Shiwoo.”
“Huh?”
Eunbyul stood up and walked over to me.
“You knew that your location tracker was missing, right?”
“Yeah… I found out this morning.”
To be honest, I realized it during the day.
But it’s the same, isn’t it?
“Then, that means you didn’t run away even without a means to control you?”
“Well, yeah. I have nowhere else to go but here.”
Eunbyul brushed her finger lightly over my shoulder.
Then she opened the door to her room.
“We need to reward a good child who listens well even after the bindings are released… Come to my room in 30 minutes. You can look forward to it.”
Saying that, Eunbyul went into her room.
‘What kind of reward… Could it be that?’
I searched for Chaewon.
“Hey, where are you?”
I prepared to put Chaewon back into the sword before receiving the reward.
‘If it’s a reward, it must definitely be… ‘that’… right?’
I looked around.
And I found Chaewon.
She was in front of Eunbyul’s room door.
‘What are you doing there?’
【Hmm… Just as I thought.】
‘What’s that supposed to mean? Hurry up and get in here—’
【Luckily, I think I’m better with my lower body!】