The method of copying a Skill from Jang Seohyeok, who was half—no, more than half—mad, was simple.
***
SNAP!
When I snapped my fingers, a transparent barrier formed around Jang Seohyeok and me in a radius of about five meters.
[Skill 「Nightingale Pharmacy」(B) has been used.]
As a gentle light descended inside the transparent barrier, Jang Seohyeok’s body visibly relaxed.
He seemed to have stabilized enough that he no longer needed to forcibly maintain the tension he had held until a moment ago.
“First, do you know what Demonic Deviation is?”
“Of course. It is when a Heart Demon creates ripples within a mind that should remain properly balanced, causing disharmony among the mind, qi, and body. Through this, a human’s interior becomes filled with various impure qi—”
“Good, I heard enough. Stop there.”
I had to acknowledge how much that man talked. I tried listening to see how long he would continue, but there seemed to be no end.
“To summarize, it is a suppressed-rage disorder.”
“……Is it all right to describe it so simply?”
“What is simple about it? Suppressed rage is a more serious condition than you think. Especially for someone normally as gentle as you.”
“What do you mean?”
I pointed at Jang Seohyeok, who looked as though he could not grasp what I was saying.
“Once anger builds up, you act differently from usual. You become more rash and more violent. But someone with your personality will hurt another person because you cannot control one emotion, then flail around by yourself in self-blame.”
Jang Seohyeok lowered his head slightly, as though that struck a nerve.
Naturally, it would strike a nerve. Those were all things you had displayed everywhere in previous iterations.
“If you keep blaming and regretting yourself like that, how could your Demonic Deviation not worsen?”
“……I understand. So? What should I do?”
“Here, write this down. I will recite the method of overcoming it.”
Jang Seohyeok took out a brush and paper and spread them over the table.
I had no idea why he used those instead of a normal pen or mechanical pencil, but there was no point trying to understand someone completely consumed by a concept, so I decided to leave it alone.
“So, first……. ‘Fear is the sword drawn forth by distrust.’”
“……How do you know that line?”
It was familiar to you, was it not?
I had heard that sentence from you in the first place.
- This is a poem my late father recited to me when I was an unremarkable C-Rank. Thanks to that poem, I was able to move forward.
“An old man taught me that poem long ago. It was a good poem, so I remembered it.”
It did not feel good to use a dead man like this, but please understand, Jang Seohyeok’s father, whom I had never even met. I would at least resolve your son’s madness.
Jang Seohyeok already knew who had written that line, which was why his eyes were shining so brightly.
After I recited enough of the poem to fill an entire page, Jang Seohyeok stared ahead for a while, seemingly absorbed in thought.
It was not strange. The root of his regret was his parents in the first place.
Jang Seohyeok’s father had died on the day Jang Seohyeok was promoted to A-Rank.
There had been no particular reason or story behind it. It was simply a chronic illness. He had developed it over many years, but hid the fact and continued working and training beside his son until his body could no longer endure.
Jang Seohyeok believed that his father’s death was caused by his own weakness. That thought grew with every passing day until it finally brought about the abnormal state called Demonic Deviation.
Therefore, a poem containing the message, ‘My son, you are not guilty. I lived happily watching you grow, so forget me and move forward,’ would surely become a path forward for Jang Seohyeok.
‘He would realize this himself around the time the eleventh Gate opened anyway. If I tell him in advance, show off a little, and copy one Skill, it benefits both of us, right?’
It was not as though I intended to take the Skill from him entirely.
Right, Father?
“……Kang Seon.”
“Ah, are you done thinking?”
Jang Seohyeok nodded.
“I thank you. It appears that you met my late father somewhere. Thanks to that, the distracting thoughts that filled my mind have disappeared.”
“Gratitude is nice, but are you saying that without anything in return?”
“Of course not.”
Jang Seohyeok shook his head and stood up.
His gaunt cheeks and dark circles remained, but the atmosphere around him was noticeably different from before.
It was more refined, giving a sense of stability.
At the noble air befitting the name Ten Thousand Sword Emperor, the corners of my mouth twitched.
“You asked me to use a Skill. Do you perhaps want 「Iron Savant」?”
“Iron Savant? Why?”
“Because it is the only one of my Skills that could be described as a Skill used on another person.”
It was true that most of Jang Seohyeok’s Skills leaned toward attack. Firing beams from swords, shooting things, launching things……
I remembered asking why there was no variety in his Skills, only for him to respond with nonsense like, ‘That is the romance of the sword.’
The only Skill that was not for attack was the A-Rank Iron Savant.
It was a Skill that created whatever weapon he desired from the metal in his hand.
Of course, I needed that Skill as well, but not now.
“Tell me what weapon you desire. I will make it now.”
“Ah, using Iron Savant and giving me the weapon you make would both be nice, but what I want is a little different.”
“……I do not understand what you mean.”
I smiled and tapped my head lightly.
“What I want is 「Clear Mirror, Still Heart」.”
Jang Seohyeok asked with a puzzled expression.
“Clear Mirror, Still Heart? That Skill is……”
“Right. It is a mental-type Skill. I will place a curse on you, and you only need to deflect it.”
“If Clear Mirror, Still Heart deflects the curse, the person who deflected it receives significant damage. Are you sure?”
“Yeah, it is fine. No, the greater the damage, the better.”
Jang Seohyeok’s clear eyes instantly clouded as they filled with various emotions.
“Could you perhaps be the type of person who experiences sexual arousal in masochistic situations?”
“Yeah, f×ck. I knew I would hear something like that.”
[Skill 「Mimicry-Fellow Traveler’s Curse」(C-) has been used.]
***
“Can I be honest?”
“No.”
“Your Skill is very……. perverted. Is it not unreasonable that you can only copy it at a higher rank if you are directly hit?”
“I feel bitter enough already, so could you stop killing me twice?”
The result was good. That was all that mattered.
[Skill: 「Mimicry-Clear Mirror, Still Heart」(B++)]
The evaluation was more generous than I had expected.
Perhaps the many mental hardships I had experienced had received a high evaluation because it was a mental-type Skill.
Hwa Yejin seemed relieved at first, but then let out a deep sigh.
“In the end, I was not much help.”
“I told you not to come and to remain at the Mage Tower, but you would not listen.”
“Are you the type of person who cannot be satisfied unless you insult goodwill?”
Our words were harsh enough to easily qualify us for a competition in ugly insults, but both Hwa Yejin and I wore bright expressions at the satisfying result.
“Are there no more dangerous matters left?”
“Are you going to follow me there and merely watch, too?”
“Should I really burn you?”
In truth, every other plan had only been a backup in case I could not obtain 「Clear Mirror, Still Heart」. Now, there was nothing else I needed to do.
Therefore, there was only one thing left.
“……Now that I have Clear Mirror, Still Heart, there is only one thing to do. But come to think of it, this is something you can help me with. Could you help?”
“Me?”
Hwa Yejin looked puzzled at my sudden change in attitude, but she soon brightened and nodded.
“Of course! What is it?”
And so, Hwa Yejin made a choice she would regret, cursing at me until immediately before entering the Gate because of her own hasty judgment.
***
“Benefactor.”
“No.”
“There is something I would like to ask. May I ask it?”
“I said no.”
The ninth Required Gate, .
It had already been about three days since the Gate opened. Everyone who intended to enter had long since gone inside, leaving the area around the entrance quiet.
Above the Gate floated the time limit, [152:21].
There were roughly six days remaining, so there was still plenty of time.
Leia, standing beside me, asked a question despite my having already told her to keep her mouth shut.
“What happened to your cheek?”
“A cat-like thing scratched me.”
“Huh?”
A bright red handprint was imprinted on my cheek as though I had received a tattoo.
The cat-like woman responsible had turned away from me with her arms crossed.
“What? Do you have a complaint?”
At the force of Hwa Yejin’s glare, which seemed capable of killing someone by sight alone, Leia clasped her hands together and lowered her head deeply.
This was someone from a Required Gate?
“What on earth did you do?”
Then Leia whispered to me.
Did that b×stard think I was an easy target?
“It was nothing. At most…….”
BOOM!
A white flame struck the ground beside my head.
This scene seemed familiar.
When I looked up, Hwa Yejin was glaring at me with only the corners of her mouth raised.
Hmm.
Perhaps I really was an easy target.
***
=====
<Required Gate: No. 9 MidNight (C+)>
Later than evening and earlier than dawn.
Humans have fallen asleep, and the fairies have not yet descended.
In that gap, a small demon entered and came to love this world very much.
The demon loved and loved and loved it, and did not want to let it go.
The demon decided to freeze this world’s time and awaken only humans.
The demon loved this world and humans so much that it decided to stop everything.
Humans awaken one by one and encounter this world once again.
This time, it is your turn to awaken.
Let us advance toward the beautiful black midnight.
◆ Clear Condition: Defeat the boss, ‘Demon’
◆ Reward: ???
=====
Nobody found it strange that a Required Gate did not reveal its reward. That was common sense.
However……
“Kang Seon.”
“Yeah, you are probably thinking the same thing as me.”
The pools of blood covering every direction were absolutely not normal.
Body fragments and bloodstains scattered so thoroughly that it was impossible to tell whom they belonged to. The thick stench of blood.
It was a sight that could never be seen in the first through eighth Gates.
That did not mean it was the normal appearance of the ninth Gate either.
As the Gate description stated, this Gate’s boss was a being who ‘loved’ humans and the world. There were plenty of excellent psychopaths who spouted absurdities such as, “I love you, so I will kill you,” but nobody tore apart something they loved like this.
There was only one person who would do something like this.
“Sa Ujin is running wild.”