< The Owner of Curse and Poison Dragons (1) >
“Even if you glare like that, what can you do?”
That guy let out a mocking laugh. It felt piercingly sharp like needles. Fuck, well, that wasn’t wrong. If I was alone, I would weakly fumble around in even an F-Rank dungeon.
“I was able to torment two of your pets. I really filleted the fat lizard that uselessly had three heads; did you happen to see it? And what about the lizard that sure walked around well on two feet like it was some circus troupe native? It was completely pierced through with a skewer from its head and cooked whole well[1]. It should still be remaining, so why don’t you go and have a taste?”
Slices of giant lizard meat and a whole roast – they were in the middle of a popular sale. If only I could bring them over, I would’ve brought them over to this bastard’s mouth with my own hands, so I was sincerely regretful.
“You’re brazen.”
“If I’m this level in front of the owner of that lizard that, fuck, bit and killed my younger brother, it’s being disgustingly composed. It’s so composed that I myself am frustrated.”
Why was I weak? The circumstances of only noisily flapping my mouth while the bastard who caused my younger brother to die was right in front of my nose, was pathetic. This was why Yoohyun couldn’t say anything to me either.
I ground my teeth as much as possible. I couldn’t. This wasn’t the time to hit rock bottom. Over the past several years, I had completely dug my own grave with enough room left over, so let’s forget it now.
“If you think of your brother that much, then why are you still alive?”
A hand that shone here and there with scales gripped the wrist of my hand that was grabbing his collar. My wrist was twisted almost to the point of breaking, but the pain just felt distant. Instead, that guy’s voice clearly pierced my ears.
“If only you weren’t here, Han Yoohyun would become freer. And as for our offer, he would’ve accepted or refused, considering entirely just his own practical benefits. Without worrying even a little over his feeble flesh and blood.”
Suddenly, I thought of Sung Hyunjae. And Riette as well. I couldn’t help but acknowledge that compared to those two, Yoohyun… seemed more restricted. The eyes that worried about me. The appearances of being angry, restless, uneasy, that you couldn’t find in the other two people.
…He really pressed accurately on only the painful places. Damn bastard.
“That’s right. The F-Rank hyung is like that. I stayed alive intact, so I really did wrong.”
I nodded my head, showing that it was correct.
“But you were dragged down by that waste-of-air F-Rank two times. Even with your rank dropping, it seems like you’re around SSS-Rank, so are you originally L-Rank? Even so, you’re struggling because of an F-Rank. I have a low rank, but you bastard that lives up to your rank even less than me, is a waste of the air you breath-.”
Puk, along with that sound, I was kicked. I tumbled down and the part that hit the floor hurt dully. The twisted wrist also smarted. It wasn’t my real body, but it sure was realistic.
“On top of that, I heard you were scammed by Sung Hyunjae, too?”
I sneered, pushing against the ground and raising my upper body up. When Sung Hyunjae’s name came up, that guy’s face stiffened obviously. Respect to the pre-regression Hyunjae-ssi. I didn’t know what he did, but whatever it was, he did good.
“It seems like you gave everything to him but he just took it all and then ran off, so now that you’ve regressed, you thought this was the time and pestered him like a 2am ex-boyfriend, and was completely robbed. Aren’t you a total pushover? While you’re at it, why don’t you change from a dragon human type to a pushover type?”
“…Sung Hyunjae was, outside of expectations. I didn’t know that someone for whom himself was the most important, would rely on an uncertain future and betray us.”
“Why’re you all ‘I didn’t know it would be like that’, ‘it’s outside of expectations’, day in and day out? How many born S-Ranks are there that you’d get all of them wrong? On top of that, you couldn’t bring Riette in properly either. Deciding by tossing a coin would rather have a higher probability of success.”
“Riette.”
The gold eyes slanted fiercely. The guy who came over to in front of me stooped and looked down.
“How did you lift the order placed on the Dio Valshesis?”
…These guys’ information was definitely less than the system manufacturers’. It was obvious they didn’t know about my skills or my titles.
“And how did you stay alive in front of the Lauchtas? Did you collaborate with the immoral people?”
“Immoral people?”
“Those guys that made and manage the system.”
Why was that side ‘immoral people’? Was it really like Sung Hyunjae said, and there really was a parent who wished for the collapse of the world, and the children split into sides and fought each other? Don’t drag other people’s family into your household fight, you damn bastards.
“I thought that you couldn’t mention each other.”
“It’s like that outside. But this is inside my consciousness. There’s no restriction on thoughts I have alone. Though more accurately, right now it’s overlapped with your consciousness.”
So it really wasn’t reality. Was it a type of powerful lucid dreams or something? It was a mind-related skill and I knew my real body was fine, but the pain in my wrist didn’t disappear easily. It was because I saw it being twisted with my own eyes, and believed that it was hurt.
Even if I repeatedly said that it was actually fake, it was hard to ignore this vivid of a sensation.
“You sure are answering well without fail. It seems like you’ve been quite bored all this time.”
“Not only do I not have cause to frequently connect directly to your world, there aren’t many I can properly talk to, so it was indeed tedious. Should I say it’s mercy toward the helpless prey that obediently came into a trap?”
What mercy. But it was true that I was helpless, so a sigh unconsciously slipped out.
“Seeing how you know about the people who made the system, you really do have a connection with them. But you’re an F-Rank, so exactly what did you receive?”
What did I receive? I received several skill names that seem like jokes.
“Unlike somebody, I’m not an automatic answering machine who readily replies as long as you just press a button. Do you think I’ll tell you?”
“Obediently answering would be convenient for both of us.”
That guy spread out and showed his left palm. One of the three wounds on the palm split open and something crawled out. The jet black mud-like thing formed a shape, and growled softly while growing its size in an instant.
Boom! The thing that came down to the ground with a heavy sound was a dragon roughly twice the size of a wolf. A curse and poison dragon type that wasn’t that big, and had four legs, tough scales, thorns, and a long tail. Its size was small, but the rank seemed to be about S-Rank.
‘Does he have curse and poison dragons in all those wounds?’
Even with just the exposed parts, there seemed to be over ten. How many wounds would there be on the covered body? He was apparently the curse and poison dragon king’s owner; so he raised a lot besides the Lauchtas, huh. He was rich in pets.
“Like I said just a while ago, this is inside the consciousness, so it’s possible to rip you into shreds and find the memory.”
-Keureureu
The dragon that was standing in front of its owner bared its teeth and growled like a guard dog. I stood up in place and drew back a couple of steps, but there really were no countermeasures. Just in case, I tried to open my inventory, but it was impossible.
“…Taking away all the items while against a stat F-Rank. And you still call yourself an L-Rank?”
“I had connected my consciousness with the Vicus, so I know you have a damage nullification ability. You didn’t use it from the start, so it should be a type of item. If you use that kind of item, it’ll become annoying, so while the skill was being carried out, I put a restriction on items and the inventory. Even so, I carried over your clothes for you.”
I was quite thankful for that.
“Did you happen to get that item from the immoral people? But you wouldn’t have been able to kill the Lauchtas with just the damage nullification.”
“Think it over hard, you son of a bitch.”
Instead of a reply, the dragon moved. Ah, I was really doomed.
I was tired of the smell of blood. Even more so because it was mine.
As the floor was dyed entirely bright red, I realized several things.
One was that if I received an impact that was enough for instantaneous death, my real body could also die. Thanks to that, my torso and especially my head were safe overall. Though it would be hard to be safe to the end.
And even severe injuries weren’t real, so if you were good in self-suggestion, you became fine right away. Rather than trivial injuries, it was losing limbs, so maybe because it didn’t feel realistic, it was easier to recover. If I closed my eyes and was like ‘there is no reason for my arm to not be there’, and opened my eyes again, even my clothes returned to normal.
The third was that it was impossible to smoothly pick out the desired memory. The very first thing that that damned lizard bastard pulled out was the memory of first being attacked by monsters. And it was things like the time when I was frustrated because the 10 levels skill didn’t come out, and when the house I was originally living in felt so big and empty that I moved, and the first Christmas I spent alone.
Then finally, the one thing that was fished out was the memory of when I used the wish stone that came out after catching the Lauchtas.
“To think it was a wish stone. And on top of that, did you use it to regress? It almost became annoying.”
The son of a bitch laughed offensively.
“If it was ‘I can keep this state’[2], then it seems like you got something temporarily. Was it the intervention of the immoral people? Or did Han Yoohyun use some kind of move?”
“Maybe the fat lizard bastard had become tired of following its owner’s orders, because it rolled over belly up and wagged its tail, asking to be killed. Being betrayed by the pet you were raising, too; could your hobby be being betray, ugh!”
The foot that was pressed down on my back let out its claws.
“If even the wish stone came out, then it’s certain that you personally killed the Lauchtas. Other things should have come out as a reward, too. Was it a title? A high grade title that’s related to curse and poison dragon types. In addition to Riette, Sung Hyunjae being fine even after breaking the contract, should be because of that.”
That guy tsked, frowning.
“Seeing how you’re still chattering away, perfectly fine, there’s a mind-related resistance type, and what else?”
“You clearly know that I’m not going to answer, but how many times are you going to ask? You sure like pointless effort. Or is your head bad? Like pet, like owner?”
“It’s a really annoying skill. If you were a normal stat F, you would’ve already been complete exposed.”
“So why didn’t you block skills instead of items?”
Of course, if he really did, then it would become difficult for me. I would’ve been completely shaken down, and then he probably wouldn’t have sent me back alive. Damn. Besides holding out, there still was no solution.
“If I could’ve blocked them, then I would’ve.”
That guy said, as if regretful. Did that mean that he could get rid of items and the inventory, but couldn’t touch skills? What was different about them? Things that were directly inside of me? Things that couldn’t be separated out from my body?
No, whatever the difference was.
‘In the first place, neither skills nor items are real. Since this isn’t reality, but inside the consciousness. If it’s a type of dream, if I think I’m here, then I’m here, and if I think I’m not, I’m not – wouldn’t it be something like that?’
Like how if I was certain that the cut off arm was there, it returned.
“Exactly how do you block it? If I think that I have an item, shouldn’t it pop out? It’s inside my head anyways, so why am I still weak?”
“It’s a type of powerful suggestion. One that prevents you from getting free of the thought that you can’t have items.”
He really was good at answering.
“It’s similar to falling the instant you think ‘this is impossible’ even if you fly up in a dream. Realism is strong, so realistically impossible things are restricted by your own fixed ideas, and you’re unable to do them. If I solidify those fixed ideas even more, making you unable to use items and your inventory is easy.”
“You sure are amazing. If you put it the other way around, then it’s possible to do anything I want?”
“In theory. But it’s impossible to pull out an ability that you haven’t even directly experienced with realistic-like sensations. It means it’s impossible for a stat F to suddenly become S-Rank. No matter how outstanding your imagination is, there’s a limit. Besides that.”
That guy stoked his chin as he continued speaking.
“It seems like it won’t end with this, so I guess we’ll have to change directions. For example, something like Han Yoohyun’s corpse.”
“…Why is that.”
Coming up now?
“I know, that it became nonexistent through the regression.”
“Originally, it would’ve been. But like I already told you, even though Han Yoohyun died while having had made a new contract, it was possible to interfere according to the contract.”
I stared stupidly at the fingers leisurely bobbing up and down. It was possible to interfere, with the contract…?
“No, I should say it was possible for us to touch him rather because he died. If he had stayed alive, he wouldn’t have been cut out of this world, and would’ve been combined with the current Han Yoohyun, without a chance for us to lay our hands on him. But it’s not hard to take over a dead corpse that was bound by a contract.”
…I didn’t immediately understand what I had just heard. So, so.
“You guys have… my brother?”
“The one who made the contract was me, but the one who took him was the Bird who Counts Stars. She showed interest for some reason and took him. I don’t have any interest in corpses.”
More than the back that was being pierced, underneath that, a place deep inside hurt more. That guy looked at my reaction, pleased.
“As expected, this has a better effect. Should I talk more about Han Yoohyun?”
“……I have no intention of hearing it from your mouth.”
The inside of my head was slightly blank. I also felt a little like I was floating.
“Even while saying that, your reaction-.”
“Since it’s an experience.”
Kooreureung!
Along with the sound ringing out, light burst out.
-Kyaak!
The dragon that was stomping on me, was hit by the electric shock and bounced off. And the dragon bastard’s owner avoided the flash of light that raged out suddenly, and drew back.
“This is!”
“It wasn’t just one or two times I’d undergone that Sung Hyunjae’s skill.”
I said, raising my body. The Terrifying Hatchling Class Teacher skill. I had undergone the sensations that were sent over to me several times. Every one of those movements handling lightning, the jolts of Mana, the strength holding the skill, and even the more meticulous parts.
I had felt it like I was directly using it.
“I’m getting fired up, so it’s easy to use something that’s a little hazy.”
Since I just had to entrust my body to the exact sensations from that time.
-Keureureung!
The dragon bastard whose body was nearly half burned, stumbled and lunged at me. I jumped up and spread wings. A golden dragon’s wings. They were Noah’s. Sensations had been shared countless times while he was a dragon, while he only had his wings out, to practice flying. The trainer was Blue.
Pajijijik!
While floating in the air, I let loose electric shocks again. It was a current that spread out without chains or long needles, but the effect was outstanding. A dragon’s scream rang out.
That’s how it goes.
[Veteran F-Rank]
[Lauchtas’ Natural Enemy]
Doubled. And then doubled again.
Laughing, I looked at the damn lizard’s owner bastard.
“Were you SSS-Rank? Though it doesn’t matter if you were L-Rank.”
I had one more left still. It had been just one hour, but the strength that had dwelled directly in my body incredibly clearly, more than the sensation sharing.
The blood that was dyeing the ground red, changed to black. Then, it became severely burning Black Blood Flames.
-Kyahhh!
The dragon that was still breathing became ashes in an instant and disappeared. That owner guy couldn’t hold out either and hurriedly dodged.
Last Repayment[3]. Doubled again.
“Thanks so much for teaching me the method.”
Yoohyun.
“This time, it’s my turn to rummage through your memory.”
Whatever has to be done, hyung will come get you.
[1] it also says that is was cooked ‘slightly yellow’, which I guess does happen w things like fish if you cook it for a long time, but that sounded weird in eng even tho that’s a descriptor used normally in krn, so prioritizing general feeling over perfect word-to-word tl, I left it out.
[2] this is probably referring to the part in ch. 2 with the wish stone where hyj thinks ‘It could probably keep this state for me too’
[3] it’s probably obvious, but it’s his prev skill, from the first few ch. I’m kinda starting to regret tl-ing both the same way.