HG Ch 26

<26>

The light was identical to the glow the system gave off when it revealed a key clue for a main quest, and so, as if drawn in, Eunho headed toward it.

As he approached, he discovered a strange violet pattern. The vivid yellow glow was emanating from this peculiar pattern on the ground.

Whoa, did that Taoist draw this? How could anyone make something like this by hand?

Facing the massive sigil densely etched into the floor, Eunho felt like he was standing before the ruins of a legendary ancient civilization. He didn’t understand a single thing about how it was made, but it still filled him with awe.

Anyway, what am I supposed to do now?

“If I touch it, will the quest move forward?”

After hesitating for a moment, he reached out toward the pattern. Just before his hand could make contact, Eunho instinctively turned to look at Yoon Iseo. There wasn’t any particular reason. It just suddenly felt like he should.

And so, their eyes met.

Eunho, who had been smiling faintly without meaning to, tilted his head slightly. Yoon Iseo was looking at him with a faintly furrowed brow. Usually so composed and cold as he gave orders and delivered facts, he now looked, strangely enough, as if he were troubled by something. Then, like someone who had just come to a decision, Yoon Iseo pressed his lips tightly together.

At that moment, Eunho’s hand brushed the pattern.

In an instant, a surge of violet energy erupted wildly from the sigil and flooded toward Eunho.

Ding!

Ding!

Ding!

At the same time, countless system windows began to pop up as if sounding an urgent alarm, disorienting him.

[SYSTEM] To the child who, without even knowing why, was trapped in a narrow, dark place and starving. [SYSTEM] The prey called “you” extends a hand. [SYSTEM] Ah, the ecstatic delight brought by a person like you. [SYSTEM] The ruler of the vengeful spirits[1] within the “Seoraksan Rock Cave,” Taejagwi[2] (Prince Ghost), fervently welcomes your arrival. [SYSTEM] Due to the curse, you are overwhelmed by an excruciating hunger. [SYSTEM] You writhe in overwhelming pain, so severe that you feel the urge to cut and consume your own flesh. [SYSTEM] HP is rapidly decreasing. [HP] 1000/3640 [SYSTEM] Due to the status effect “Hunger,” HP decreases by 500 every 30 seconds. [Status Effect] Hunger (60:59:59)

“……”

Eunho, who had been staring blankly at the system windows, slowly parted his lips.

At first, he had been too stunned to believe it.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Phase 1 starts with a debuff like the Chang-gwi…?”

“……”

“You left it out on purpose, didn’t you? You knew everything about this place—ugh!”

At that moment, a wave of excruciating pain surged through him.

Eunho convulsed at the pain that felt as if it was tearing apart his mind rather than his body.

He would’ve preferred physical pain. That, at least, was dulled by the firewall of virtual reality and couldn’t threaten him completely.

But with his mind breaking down, nothing functioned properly anymore. His body crumbled on its own, and he felt a wave of nausea rise up from his gut. Even so, he was overwhelmed with a hunger so intense that he wanted to devour everything he could get his hands on, and tears streamed down his face.

Unable to even keep his jaw shut properly, sour bile surged up and spilled from his mouth as he trembled uncontrollably. In the midst of it all, Eunho looked only at Yoon Iseo.

‘I’m really hurt this time. It’s unbearable, and it feels genuinely dangerous. Please don’t let me suffer like this. Save me.’

That’s what his eyes pleaded as he stared at Yoon Iseo.

“…Yeah. You really can die here, so remember it quickly.”

“……”

“When you’re right on the verge of death, you can ■■■ ■■ and ■■■, right?”

He collapsed.

And in that moment, Eunho understood.

No, he had suspected it for some time now, but had avoided acknowledging the truth

Now, he accepted it.

—“I get that you’re pissed, but I was sealed too.”

Yoon Iseo, who had suddenly vanished from Chang-Gwi’s lair.

—“Your method looked good, so I gathered up every single monster in here.”

Yoon Iseo, who had forced through a reckless method even in the rock cave.

Yoon Iseo, who had stood by and let Eunho suffer under this agonizing curse.

It wasn’t the first time Yoon Iseo had acted strangely, so why had he kept brushing it off? Why had he never once checked if Yoon Iseo’s main quest actually involved “helping” him?

Maybe it was because, in this strange world, Yoon Iseo was the only one who shared a common goal, and that had made Eunho’s thoughts go soft.

Or maybe…

Maybe I just wanted to believe in him.

To believe in Yoon Iseo.

Then another wave of endless agony surged through him. Eunho gasped for breath as he thought, But is this really not reality? I’m in so much pain…

In that moment, the reality obscured by “graphics,” “sound effects,” “motions,” “status effects,” and the “HP” felt grotesquely vivid.

…Was this really inside a game?

[SYSTEM] Due to the status effect “Hunger,” HP decreases by 500 every 30 seconds. [HP] 500/3640

Startled by his plummeting health, Eunho hastily consumed a healing herb.

[SYSTEM] You have consumed a healing herb. HP increases by 700. [HP] 1200/3640 [SYSTEM] Consumption delay (29 seconds)

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Eunho, his face drained of color, stared straight ahead.

The newly summoned Taejagwi (Prince Ghost) howled as violet fluid dripped from its body. It seemed to be executing a wide-range, long-distance attack, causing Eunho to stagger involuntarily.

[HP] 1100/3640

So that means…

[SYSTEM] Due to the status effect “Hunger,” HP decreases by 500 every 30 seconds. [HP] 600/3640

…He had to fight in this condition?

How?

* * *

Up until now, Eunho had poured all of his weapon stat points into “guns.”

He’d briefly considered splitting some points into close-range weapons like daggers, but the idea of getting too close to grotesque ghost-type monsters disgusted him.

So instead, he maxed out his stats for firearms; accuracy and attack power were at their highest.  

[SYSTEM] The attack missed.

And yet, his hands trembled so much that he couldn’t even aim properly.

[SYSTEM] Due to the status effect “Hunger,” HP decreases by 500 every 30 seconds. [HP] 200/3640 [SYSTEM] You have consumed a healing herb. HP increases by 700. [HP] 900/3640

He had tried to minimize the debuff as much as possible, but a mere 700-point recovery from the healing herb just wasn’t enough.

With emaciated limbs and a distended belly, the Taejagwi resembled a starving infant ghost.

Its eyes, completely black without a trace of white, fixated on Eunho.

When it grinned, its lips stretched unnaturally wide, revealing a mouth with no teeth, only a gaping void.

Inside, it was pitch-black, like a black hole.

The Taejagwi gleefully bounced around, delighted by its new plaything.

While it remained completely unscathed and energetic, Eunho’s HP steadily declined with each passing second.

And Yoon Iseo’s expression, as he watched Eunho, only grew more grim.

Yoon Iseo bit down on his molars, hard.

Something was off. By now—no, long before now—he should have remembered. So why was he still like this?

Yoon Iseo wanted to check more thoroughly, but unfortunately, due to the Sworn Companion effect, Joo Eunho’s <A Bond Like Glue and Lacquer> trait had awakened, making it difficult to move far from him.

Narrowing his eyes as if searching for something, Yoon Iseo scanned the clutter of overlapping system windows that floated chaotically before his vision. His gaze landed on the “Traits” list among them.

[SYSTEM] Due to the activation of the <A Bond Like Glue and Lacquer> trait, you cannot be separated from your Sworn Companion. If the Sworn Companion is separated from you, they will fall into despair, and all of their stats will be adjusted to the equivalent of Spiritual Power Level 30.

At that moment, through the translucent system windows, he caught sight of Joo Eunho.

In slow motion, he saw him fumble and drop his gun, and then the Taejagwi lunged at him.

Clicking his tongue, Yoon Iseo cast a spell.

Struck by a powerful blow, the Taejagwi was knocked backward at an unnatural angle. However, Eunho didn’t seem to grasp why the monster had reacted that way. He was too focused on dodging, too disoriented to even realize someone was helping him. That alone was enough to show just how bad his condition was.

Without realizing it, Yoon Iseo’s expression turned anxious.

F*ck.

I’ve done enough. Maybe it’s time to stop this.

He recalled the glare Joo Eunho had shot him while gasping for breath.

Even though he knew that the moment they escaped from here, he would become someone completely irrelevant to him, his mouth tasted bitter.

He still wanted to hold on to that desperate gaze that had looked only at him.

Am I really losing it? Get it together.

Off in the distance, Eunho rolled away to avoid the Taejagwi, only to double over again, dry heaving.

Remaining HP… 350.

The infant ghost let out a wild, booming wail and charged again, baring its long claws.

According to Yoon Iseo’s calculations, Eunho was currently in the consumption delay from his last healing herb.

If he took that hit, followed by the next wave of the hunger debuff, Joo Eunho would really die.

Yoon Iseo let out a sigh and was just about to move to save Eunho—

When Eunho suddenly didn’t dodge the charging Taejagwi, but instead embraced it.