Chapter 150

 

“Don’t talk bullshit.”

I tried to shove his arm away, but he grabbed my wrist instead. That smug grin on his face was infuriating.

Seong San-ha glanced toward the camera and muttered,

“Security’s tighter than I thought. Didn’t expect one inside the workshop, too.”

“Of course there is.”

“Where isn’t there a camera?”

“My lab and my room.”

“Wanna go?”

“What? Why would we go th—”

I responded without thinking, only for his fingers to slowly trace the inside of my wrist. My face flushed in an instant.

“You—you insane—!”

“Wow, you caught on right away. Good job. Our little Eui-jin’s all grown up.”

“You psycho!”

“Shh. Quiet now. You’ll wake the kid.”

As Seong San-ha subtly gestured toward the direction of Seung-yeon’s room and whispered, I quickly turned around in alarm.

Thankfully, there was no sign he’d woken up—everything was quiet.

“You little—”

I opened my mouth, flustered from the teasing, but then his hand gently touched my cheek. A soft warmth followed, and only then did I realize—there was a cut on my face.

‘When did that even happen…?’

I stared blankly at him as Seong San-ha gave my cheek a couple of light taps with his finger, as if to say all done.

“If only you cared about your own body even half as much as you do your potions.”

“It’s just a scratch. You healers are so dramatic.”

I swatted at his hand to brush it away—only to pause when I caught sight of his white glove.

He noticed my gaze and tried to pull back, but I grabbed his wrist even faster.

“Let me see your hand. It’s been a while.”

“Not sure there’s a point to that.”

“I’ve finally got some time to do proper research.”

“It’s a waste of time. If you’re going to take something off, how about not the gloves?”

“Shut up and give me the glove. You’re being so suspicious it’s infuriating.”

When I glared and snapped at him, he finally let the tension go in his hand.
I immediately pulled off the glove.

And the moment I saw the skin beneath the white fabric, I gasped.

No wonder he’d been trying to hide it.

Seong San-ha’s hand was in far worse condition than before.

The black taint that had once only darkened his fingertips had now spread past his wrist, crawling halfway up his forearm.

The skin looked like it might be rotting, and dark, bluish veins bulged beneath the surface with a sickly glow.

“…It wasn’t this bad before.”

“Yeah. Guess it got worse.”

Seong San-ha’s absurdly casual tone lit a fire in me.

“Fuck, your hand’s literally rotting off and you’re cracking jokes?!”

I regretted it—how I’d only vaguely thought that I should try making a cure someday.

If I’d known the corruption would spread this fast, I would’ve started researching right away.

“Hand of the Divine.”

Still holding his hand, I activated the skill.

I was hoping that, given how much worse his condition had gotten, something—anything—might show up as a clue. But Seong San-ha’s status window was exactly the same as the last time I saw it.

< Seong Sanha – Hunter >

-Attribute: Light / Holy

-■■■■■■■■■■

-■■■■■■■■■■■

-■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

<Way of Treatment>

► ■■■■■■■■■
► ■■■■■■■■■

The black letters, flickering with a blood-red glow, continued to shift and change form.

What the hell is this? What kind of language doesn’t even have a root system?

Not only had I never seen this script in my life, it kept morphing—so much so I was starting to doubt whether it was even a real language at all.

Not even “Hand of the Divine,” an S-rank skill, could diagnose it.

In the end, it meant I’d have to figure everything out myself—from step one, all the way to one hundred.

Test after test, trial after trial.

‘If it’s not a poison, then antidotes are useless. If it’s a curse, then I’d have to lift it… Would a debuff potion work?’

“When did it get worse? You were fine before the Awakening Tournament—well, not fine, but it wasn’t this bad. Right! If you know it’s a curse, then that means you remember when it happened, don’t you? Can you tell me how it started? You said it doesn’t hurt, right?”

“Yes, doctor~ It doesn’t hurt at all.”

I was checking around his hand, trying to piece things together, when his mocking answer made me look up sharply.

Our eyes met—his face was lit up with that familiar, infuriating smile.

Before I could say anything, Seong San-ha dropped his eyebrows in a fake pout and laced his fingers together, pressing his hands against his chest.

Then, in a weak, pitiful voice, he muttered:

“But doctor… something’s wrong. My heart races and I feel hot whenever I look at you. What should I do? Can’t you treat this first?”

“…You wanna die?”

“I think a kiss might fix it.”

His lips brushed the back of my hand.

The sensation was disgustingly gentle—so much so it gave me chills. I yanked my hand away like it was on fire and scrubbed it furiously, red from the friction, muttering:

“Fuck off. That time doesn’t count—I had no choice. I’m never kissing you again, or doing anything like that ever.”

I’m not gay.

I repeated it in my head as I walked out from behind the counter.

But it was clear—even earlier, I’d noticed it—Seong San-ha was avoiding talking about the curse.

He kept dodging my questions with playful nonsense, pretending it was a joke.

As if I wouldn’t notice.

But I did.

It wasn’t just discomfort anymore—I could feel it. He was hiding something.

‘…Maybe I should dig into Seong San-ha’s background before starting the research.’

With a grumpy look on my face, I stopped in front of him.

He looked up at me, puzzled, only for me to reach out and place a hand on his head. I grabbed a few strands of his soft hair—and yanked.

“Ack!”

A short grunt escaped him, half protest, half pain. His brows knit slightly as he let out that deliberate little sound

In my hand were a dozen or so strands of pale hair.

He stared at the spot they were pulled from, clearly offended, but I ignored him and carefully slipped the hair into a small envelope.

“I’m borrowing this. I need it for the experiment.”

“It’s pointless, you know. It’s not something that can be cured.”

“I’ll decide that.”

Seong San-ha shrugged as if to say do what you want.

I tucked the envelope into my pocket and glanced over at the calendar posted on the side of the counter.

“You said the dungeon opens in a week. Do we have to go in immediately?”

“Yeah. It’s not just us moving—there’s no time to waste.”

“Then let me ask for one favor.”

“A favor?”

Seong San-ha’s eyes widened, clearly surprised.

***

Surrounded by mirrors, extravagant lighting, and bright white walls, there was only one sofa in the center of the space.

This was a VIP showroom that accepted just one team per day.

Overwhelmed by the luxurious interior, Seung-yeon shrank back a little, glancing around nervously as he whispered,

“U-uh… Eui-jin nim? Why are we here?”

“Looking for gear. I’m not going into a dungeon the day after tomorrow unarmed.”

“Ah… I didn’t think they sold equipment in a place like this…”

To be fair, it was far from normal. That’s why I needed Seong San-ha’s help to get in.

While mentally going over what kind of gear I’d need, I reached out to the table where refreshments had been laid out.

Between fragrant teas, I picked up a glass of apple juice and took a sip.

As expected—delicious.

Not long after, a man in a suit appeared. Behind him, others carrying identical boxes followed in line, entering one after the other.

“Haha, welcome. I’m Woo Ji-wan, the manager of the Intower weapons section. Since you’re coming from Cheon Rang, I took some time to pick out some good weapons for you.”

“I didn’t wait that long.”

“As you requested, I’ve selected light, fast, and highly mobile weapons. For armor, just choose from the catalog, and I’ll show you right away.”

With Ji-wan’s gesture, boxes were neatly stacked on the table. Basic information was displayed on the screens on the outside of each box, but none of the items appealed to me.

‘B, B, A, C, B, B, B. What are these ranks?’

When the last box was placed at the top of the pyramid, Ji-wan looked at me proudly.

“Please feel free to choose and let me know. I’ll assist you with the testing.”

“This is it? There’s nothing worth choosing.”

“Ah, I see. You mean there’s nothing to choose… wait, did you say there’s nothing to choose?”

Ji-wan’s eyes widened in surprise as I nodded nonchalantly.

“The ranks are so bad that I’ve lost the interest to even test them.”

“Ah, well, you see, our Intown offers a premium ranking system that provides personalized services tailored to each customer.”

“I know. It’s the ranking system, right? That’s why I’m asking. Why did you bring B-rank items? It’s not like you’re out of stock, so are you telling me those are all B-rank items?”

When I told Seong San-ha that I needed equipment, he opened the Cheon Rang warehouse for me, but there was no S-rank gear that matched the size and mobility I was looking for. That’s why I came to the item showroom. 

But to think they’d only offer B-rank gear when I visited a showroom with the name of the Cheon Rang Guild Leader attached… 

B-rank? 

That’s something I could get from the blacksmith next door, not to mention there were plenty of them in the Cheon Rang warehouse. I had never seen anything below S-rank when I went with Tae Jae-heon to a showroom, so this was even more shocking.

‘Is Tae Jae-heon the weird one, or is Seong San-ha the weird one?’

It was strange that Seong San-ha was receiving only B-rank items at the showroom. What kind of messed-up ecosystem is there in the guild? As I was seriously worrying about this in my mind, someone rushed into the room.

“Ji-wan, sir! It was a gold card! The customer didn’t come from Cheon Eang, but was personally introduced by the Cheonrang Guild Leader!”

“What? What do you mean you mixed that up?! Are you crazy…?!”

The whisper was small, but since the space was empty, the sound bounced off and reached my ears. Yeon Seung-yeon, sitting next to me, nervously glanced around.

While watching the scene unfold with him looking pale and flustered, I met eyes with Ji-wan, who had been scolding the staff earlier. Jiwan immediately bowed his head.

“I-I’m so sorry! Customer! There was confusion during the reservation process. I didn’t know you were personally referred by the Cheon Rang Guild Leader. I made a critical mistake.”

“I knew something was off. So, that means we can see higher-ranked items than B-rank, right?”

“Of course. You’ll be able to see all the equipment we have in Intown.”

Hearing Ji-wan’s confirmation, I felt relieved. Thank goodness it was just a mistake. It wasn’t that Seong San-ha was weird…

I sighed in relief and said.

“Bring out all the S-rank gear you have.”