The Prince Who Absorbs Abilities With a ‘Click’

Chapter 16: The Girl Who Became a Monster

The strange song and gunfire reverberating through the dungeon blended together like a discordant sound.

Seo Jiwon watched the scene, clutching the hem of her pink skirt. Her hands were trembling slightly.

‘This doesn’t make sense.’

The green skeleton moved gracefully like a dancer, holding a pink magic wand in one hand and a pistol in the other.

Every time the innocent song played, the sight of the skeleton pulling the trigger of the pistol was eerie and shocking.

Magical Girl Linlin♬
Dancing in the embrace of starlight♪
Crossing over the rainbow bridge♪

And with those incomprehensible lyrics, the humans who entered the dungeon moaned and suffered in pain.

“Ugh…”

Two of them were already dead, and the remaining two writhed on the floor, suffering as though they were being tortured, as if their minds were being torn apart.

Was the song coming from the magic wand attacking their minds?

She didn’t know.

It wasn’t certain, but Seo Jiwon bit her lip.

‘This is strange, strange…’

Is this really right?

Having lived for 29 years, she had always seen the standards of right and wrong as clear.

She had lived within the boundaries set by law and morality, as society demanded.

While she didn’t deny that this was a normal life, in the world she knew, a magical girl fought monsters to protect people.

At least, that was how it seemed in her common sense.

‘But what is this…?’

Isn’t a magical girl supposed to fight monsters for humanity?

Then why must she fight against other humans?

The people she was facing now were clearly ordinary humans, even though their clothes looked like they came from a different world.

Why must she fight them? Seo Jiwon couldn’t understand.

‘Why am I even here in the first place?’

The reason she ended up in this place was all because of Kain.

Under the pretense of training, she entered the dimensional rift and ended up here.

Seo Jiwon’s gaze turned to Kain.

The winged cat with a symbol on its forehead, Kain. The one who made the contract and granted her the powers of a magical girl.

Kain had said that this was a dungeon.

He had told her that the beings who lived here were monsters and his subordinates, not the creatures she would fight.

‘How did it end up like this?’

Now, she was fighting other humans.

The reason was simple.

Because Kain had ordered it.

Kill the intruders who entered this place.

According to his words, they were intruders.

They were the unwelcome guests who entered the dungeon, which Kain claimed as his own.

And Kain had ordered her to deal with them.

But Seo Jiwon refused.

After all, they were humans, just like her.

She couldn’t bring herself to kill other humans.

Even if she had become a magical girl and trained in the dungeon with monsters, she hadn’t abandoned her humanity.

No, a magical girl’s purpose isn’t to kill humans.

So, she refused.

Moreover, she didn’t even need to act. The Skeleton Gunner was already handling the situation perfectly.

Kain spoke to her as she hesitated.

This is just a game, he said.

‘Is this really a game…?’

The scene unfolding before her was far too vivid to be a game.

The invaders’ cries of pain, the pungent smell of blood, all felt too real.

Could she really call this a game?

But what if it wasn’t a game?

“……”

She hesitated.

She had made the contract on a whim, and now it seemed like she had to pay too high a price for it.

That was why she had handed over the magic wand to the Skeleton Gunner and taken a step back.

It was then.

The magician, who had been groaning on the floor, suddenly got up.

Her brown robe billowed as the woman’s hand reached out toward Seo Jiwon.

“Die!!”

Brilliant blue light surged from the invader’s fingertips.

The air twisted, and a blue beam shot toward Seo Jiwon’s face like lightning.

She barely turned her head, but the spot where the beam grazed her cheek burned.

The smell of burning flesh stung her nostrils.

Had it not been for her reflexes as a magical girl, she wouldn’t have been able to dodge it.

“Blood…?”

Seo Jiwon touched her cheek with her fingertips and felt something warm on them.

Bright red liquid flowed down her fingers.

It was blood.

“It hurts…it really hurts…”

Her voice trembled.

If this were really a game, why did the pain feel so vivid?

What would have happened if that attack had pierced her face?

“I don’t know…”

Confusion welled up inside her heart.

She didn’t understand why she was here, why she became a magical girl, why she had to kill other humans, why it felt so real if this was a game—none of it made sense.

No, she didn’t even want to understand.

“I don’t know anything.”

But the attacks from her opponent didn’t stop.

The blue beams kept coming, and Seo Jiwon barely managed to dodge them.

In the midst of it all, her mind was still in turmoil.

“I don’t get it.”

According to Kain, this was his dungeon.

That meant the humans attacking her were intruders.

But didn’t it seem strange that they were attacking her angrily?

What’s the difference between a thief breaking into a house and getting mad when attacked?

The whole situation didn’t make sense to her.

As Seo Jiwon wrestled with her thoughts, Kain approached her.

“Indecision is death.”

Kain’s sharp words pierced her heart.

“With that mindset, you won’t be able to fight monsters either. Your enemies don’t care about your hesitation. They just want to kill you.”

He was right.

She was hesitating against someone attacking her, so how could she possibly face a monster?

‘Should I just quit…?’

For a moment, that thought crossed her mind.

In fact, quitting being a magical girl seemed like a way out.

It had been a contract made on a whim, so couldn’t she just cancel it?

If she did, she could return to a normal life.

But as soon as that thought came to her, a feeling of suffocation settled in her chest.

Even if she really canceled the contract?

Waking up at the same time every morning, going to work, watching her boss, suffering through overtime, and then going home to drink herself to sleep.

Was that the life she wanted to go back to?

Even though she was drunk when Kain first offered the contract, how did she feel about herself back then?

Perhaps, that night when she agreed to the contract, it wasn’t just the alcohol talking.

Maybe it was the thirst that had been growing inside her, the desire to be special, that had led her here.

So, what should she do now?

“These filthy monsters!”

Her opponent was still attacking.

“Die! Die! Die! You monsters!”

Kain’s words echoed in her mind.

Indecision is death.

Her gaze turned to the Skeleton Gunner beside her.

At some point, the sound of gunfire had stopped.

The Skeleton Gunner was only holding the magic wand now, the pistol lying discarded on the floor.

“……”

The sight felt like an invitation.

It almost seemed like it was tempting her to use the pistol.

Seo Jiwon slowly bent down and picked up the pistol from the floor.

The cold metal pressed into her palm.

Her hand shook as she gripped the pistol.

Now that she has picked it up, should she just shoot?

‘Is it really okay to do this…?’

Let’s think once more.

Is her choice right?

But at that moment, the intruder’s shout covered her thoughts.

“Dirty monsters! I’ll kill you all!”

The intruder’s eyes were filled with hatred and murderous intent.

‘Ah, now I understand.’

She realized.

No matter how much she saw them as humans, they did not see her as one of their own.

It was laughable that she had tried to see them as humans, even though they did not show her any respect.

She was a magical girl who wanted to break free from her ordinary life and become something special.

Then, perhaps she needed to make a resolve that matched that decision.

Yes, it’s simple logic. She just needed to pull the trigger.

‘Just like you said.’

Her hands no longer trembled.

There was no hesitation in her eyes anymore.

“Yes, hesitation is death.”

With Seo Jiwon’s cold voice, the muzzle of the gun was aimed at the intruder.

And then.

Bang-

Bang-

Bang-

Bang-

Gunshots echoed through the dungeon at regular intervals.

[Congratulations! You successfully defended the dungeon.]

[You have earned 1,000 points as a reward.]

[Due to your brutal and merciless methods, the dungeon’s reputation has risen dramatically. You have earned the new title “11th Dungeon of Bloody Death.”]

[With the title “11th Dungeon of Bloody Death,” the morale of the intruders who enter the dungeon will be lowered.]

She had dealt with all the intruders who entered the dungeon.

“This is the third time, right?”

This was the third time intruders had come.

And once again, I had stopped them all without any problems.

Thanks to that, I had earned 1000 points and even a title.

“11th Dungeon of Bloody Death? What’s that about?”

I had obtained a strange title, and it even had an effect.

‘Morale reduction…’

It was a somewhat vague ability.

I would have preferred something more direct, like reducing health or attack power, instead of a vague debuff ability like morale reduction.

“Well, it’s better than nothing.”

After all, titles were just additional rewards.

The most important thing I gained by defeating the intruders this time was the magical girl.

More specifically, I had corrected the mindset of the magical girl.

At first, Seo Jiwon had hesitated to kill the intruders simply because they were human, but now she was firing her pistol without hesitation.

“Finally, I feel like the pressure in my chest is easing.”

At first, it had been frustrating because the game character didn’t follow my orders, but now it should be fine.

I controlled the cat-like Kain on the screen and approached Seo Jiwon.

Seo Jiwon was holding her head with both hands and muttering strange words.

Right… I just had to kill them all. Anyone who opposes me should die…

Hmm, why is she in that state?

“Did the training wear her out?”

Now that I thought about it, maybe I had pushed her too hard.

No matter how much time passed in the dungeon, it didn’t matter since time in the real world didn’t flow for her.

So I had pushed her harder, but it seemed there was some kind of fatigue system in the game.

“I guess I have no choice. I should let her rest.”

Anyway, I was about to end the game soon.

Lately, I had been so focused on the game that Lynette, who had been attending to me, had started nagging me.

Not just Lynette, but other maids had been coming to my room to protest, clearly telling me to snap out of it.

I needed to start easing up a little.

‘Maybe I should check on reality for a bit.’

I had been so focused on the game characters that my brain was fully charged with dopamine.

It was time for a little dopamine detox.

I even turned off my smartphone.

“……”

In the dark room, Seo Jiwon was huddling.

She had been in that position all day.

Her contractor, Kain, who should have been beside her, was nowhere to be seen.

In that dark room, Seo Jiwon was muttering to herself.

“I…I didn’t do anything wrong.”

The screams that had echoed through the dungeon still lingered in her ears.

“Right…they attacked me first…”

Seo Jiwon, looking at the palm of her hand, giggled.

The sensation of pulling the trigger was still at her fingertips.

She slowly stood up from her position, walked toward the mirror and looked at herself.

A pastel pink dress with twin tails.

She clearly looked like a magical girl.

Did being a magical girl only mean she had to fight monsters?

“Anything that gets in my way…I just…kill them all, right?”

Otherwise, wouldn’t she be the one to die?

Hesitation is death, they said.

She was just following that advice.

“That’s right…I can’t hesitate anymore.”

Seo Jiwon smiled as she looked at herself.

The reflection of her in the mirror started to smile like an evil spirit. A crazed laugh echoed quietly through the darkness.